U.S. crude inventories fell last week but the rise in petroleum product stocks exceeded analysts' expectations, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Crude oil stockpiles fell by 4.2 million barrels to 335.3 million barrels, compared with an average survey estimate of a 2.2-million-barrel draw. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported Tuesday that stocks fell by 7.5 million barrels last week.
Oil futures extended losses after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly report. February contracts were recently down 1% at $88.46 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. February futures for gasoline were down 1.2% at $2.3844 U.S. a gallon and heating oil -- a proxy for distillates -- was down 0.7% at $2.4893 a gallon.
Inventories for crude oil and petroleum products remain above levels typically seen this time of the year. The recent rise seen in commodity prices, especially in gasoline during its off-peak season, has raised concerns about whether it will pressure consumer spending, which could extend the inventory overhang.
Gasoline stockpiles rose by 3.3 million barrels to 318.2 million barrels, the department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report, compared with the forecast for a 600,000-barrel increase based in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 15 analysts.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 1.2 million barrels to 162.1 million barrels while analysts estimated they would rise by 500,000 barrels.
Refining capacity utilization rose by 0.2 percentage points to 88.0%. Analysts had expected it to remain unchanged.
API data showed that gasoline stocks rose by 5.6 million barrels last week and distillate inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels while refinery utilization fell by 0.2 percentage point to 85.4% of capacity.
