U.S. crude inventories rose by four times the amount analysts had expected last week, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Crude oil stockpiles expanded by 4.0 million barrels to nearly 341.6 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 26, versus an average survey estimate of a one-million barrel increase. Data published by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday showed a 2.7-million barrel increase.
April crude oil contracts were recently up 0.6% at $80.17 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The futures markets shrugged off yet another surprise in oil inventory numbers as total product demand rose. Gasoline demand, dampened in recent weeks by winter snow storms, edged up by 0.1 percentage point. Inventories for crude oil and petroleum product remain at unusually high levels.
Gasoline stockpiles grew by 773,000 barrels to 231.9 million barrels, the department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. That compares to the forecast of a 700,000-barrel rise in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 15 analysts.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell by 843,000 barrels to 151.8 million barrels, slightly above of analysts' estimate for a draw of 700,000 barrels.
Refining capacity utilization rose by 0.7 percentage points to 81.9%, the highest level seen since the week ending Oct. 2. Analysts had expected the rate to hold steady at 81.2%.
API reported that gasoline inventories rose by 900,000 barrels last week while distillate stocks fell by 4.1 million barrels. The industry group pegged refinery rates at 81.6% of capacity, a 0.8-percentage-point increase from the prior week.
