U.S. crude inventories continued to rise above analysts' expectations last week while gasoline and distillate stocks fell, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Crude oil stockpiles expanded by 3.03 million barrels to 337.5 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 19, the department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. Analysts expected a 1.9-million barrel increase. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, reported that oil stocks fell by 3.1 million barrels.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil futures teetered in negative territory after the data's release before heading higher. April contracts were recently up 0.6% at $79.33 U.S. a barrel.
The EIA said that stocks of crude oil and petroleum products remain at unusually high levels for this time of the year, a problem that continues to plague refiners. U.S. refiners continue to operate around historically low rates but last week they were at their highest level in more than a month.
Gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly declined by 895,000 barrels to nearly 231.2 million barrels, the EIA said in its weekly report. That compares to the 500,000-barrel increase forecasted in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 14 analysts.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, decreased by 591,000 barrels to 152.7 million barrels, versus analysts' estimates for a 1.2-million barrel draw.
Refining capacity utilization rose by 1.4 percentage points to 81.17%, the highest weekly average since the week ending Jan. 8. Analysts had expected it to increase by 0.2 percentage points.
API's data showed that gasoline inventories rose by 1.7 million barrels last week while distillate stocks fell by 834,000 barrels. The industry group showed refining rates at 80.8% of capacity, an 0.9-percentage point increase.
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