U.S. crude inventories fell for the fourth week in a row and by slightly less than analysts' expectations last week, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Crude oil stockpiles fell by 1.54 million barrels to 326.01 million barrels for the week ended Dec. 25, compared with an average survey estimate of a decline of 1.7 million barrels. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported Tuesday afternoon a 1.7-million-barrel increase.
The EIA's data showed that stocks of crude and petroleum products continued to decline last week. The snow storm that swept much of the East Coast and persistent cold weather since then has fueled demand for heating oil. Inventories of distillates, though, still remain unusually high.
Gasoline stockpiles declined by 366,000 barrels to 214.96 million barrels, the department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report versus the forecasted rise by 400,000 barrels based on a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 13 analysts.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell by 2.06 million barrels to 159.28 million barrels. Analysts were expecting draw of 2.1 million barrels.
Refining capacity utilization rose by 0.2 percentage points to nearly 80.3% after holding steady at around 80.0% for two weeks. Analysts had expected it to rise by 0.1 percentage point.
API pegged refinery utilization at 78.2%, a 0.2% decline from a week earlier. The industry group's data showed that inventories of gasoline fell by 1.4 million barrels and distillates dropped by 3.5 million barrels.
