U.S. Crude Oil Stockpiles Fall Unexpectedly

U.S. crude oil stocks fell unexpectedly last week as refineries raised their capacity use and a decline in imports offset an increase in production to a record level, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 2.2 million barrels to 420.5 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 11 and were about 5% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said.

Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would rise by 1.9 million barrels.

Oil held in the SPR increased by 952,000 barrels to 383.9 million barrels. Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, was up by 108,000 barrels at 25 million barrels.

U.S. crude oil production rose by 100,000 barrels a day to a record 13.5 million barrels a day, according to the EIA. Crude imports fell by 710,000 barrels a day to 5.5 million barrels a day, and exports increased 329,000 barrels a day to 4.1 million barrels a day.

Gasoline stocks were down by 2.2 million barrels at 212.7 million barrels, and were around 4% below the five-year average. Gasoline inventories were forecast to fall by 2 million barrels, according to the Journal survey. Gasoline demand fell be 1 million barrels a day to 8.6 million barrels a day.

Stocks of distillate fuels dropped by 3.5 million barrels to 115 million barrels versus expectations of 2.2 million-barrel withdrawal, and were 10% below the five-year average.

Refineries ran at 87.7% of capacity, up 1 percentage point from the previous week. Refinery runs were forecast to fall by 0.4 percentage point.