U.S. Crude Oil and Fuel Inventories Fall Sharply
27 June 2019 - 1:32AM
Dow Jones News
By Dan Molinski
U.S. inventories of crude oil fell much more than expected last
week, while gasoline and diesel fuel stockpiles also slid,
according to data released Wednesday by the Energy Information
Administration.
Benchmark U.S. oil prices, which were sharply higher before the
data was released, added to those gains after the report. The Nymex
crude contract for August delivery was recently up 3.4% at $59.80 a
barrel.
Crude-oil stockpiles dropped by 12.8 million barrels to 469.6
million barrels, and are now 5% above the five-year average for
this time of year, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall
Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by 2.6
million barrels from the prior week.
Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S.
stocks, fell by 1.7 million barrels to 51.8 million barrels, the
EIA said in its weekly report.
Gasoline stockpiles decreased by 996,000 barrels to 232.2
million barrels, while analysts in the survey were expecting levels
to fall by just 200,000 barrels from the previous week.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel
unexpectedly decreased by 2.4 million barrels to 125.4 million
barrels, and are now about 7% below the five-year average for this
time of year, the EIA said. Earlier in the week, analysts had
forecast supplies would increase by 300,000 barrels from the
previous week.
The refining capacity utilization rate rose by 0.3 percentage
point from the previous week to 94.2%, an increase that matched
analysts' forecasts.
U.S. oil inventories for week ended June 21:
Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use
EIA data: -12.8 -1.0 -2.4 +0.3
Forecast: -2.6 -0.2 +0.3 +0.3
Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use,
which is in percentage points.
Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 26, 2019 11:17 ET (15:17 GMT)
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