U.S. crude inventories rose in line with analysts' estimates last week, but there was a bigger-than-expected draw in gasoline and distillate stocks, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Crude oil stockpiles increased by 1.7 million barrels to 350.6 million barrels for the week ended March 11, compared with an average survey estimate of a 1.1-million-barrel increase. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported a 91,000-barrel build last week.
The EIA's inventory data bolstered oil futures. Crude contracts for April were recently up 2.3% at $99.37 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. April contracts for gasoline rose 2.6% to $2.8750 U.S. a gallon and heating oil rose 2.5% to $3.0289 U.S. a gallon.
The overhang in crude oil and petroleum product inventories have decreased in recent months, but still remain at unusually high levels for this time of the year.
Gasoline stockpiles fell 4.2 million barrels to 225.0 million barrels, the department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. That compares with the forecast for a 1.5-million-barrel draw in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 12 analysts.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, declined 2.6 million barrels to 152.6 million barrels, versus estimates for a 1.5-million barrel decline.
Refining capacity utilization rose by 1.4 percentage points to 83.4%. Analysts had expected a 0.1-percentage-point increase.
API pegged refinery utilization at 82.3%, up 2.4%. The industry group's data showed that gasoline inventories fell by 458,000 barrels while distillate stocks rose by 531,000 barrels.
