Brent crude oil price falls after US crude stockpile increase

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures dropped by $0.27/bbl in the first 40 minutes after the official weekly oil figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) were released today.

PHOTO: An oil pumpjack with the US flag in the background. Getty Images

Commercial US crude inventories rose by 5.5 million bbls on the week, to 427.43 million bbls on 2 February, according to the EIA. The weekly stock build was much bigger than the American Petroleum Institute's (API) projection of 674,000 bbls build a day earlier.

The official EIA data showed that US refinery utilisation decreased by 0.5 percentage points to 83%, which is the lowest weekly average since November 2021. Refinery utilisation also decreased sharply over the month as a whole, from 92% in December to 87% in January.

Gasoline stocks dropped by 3.15 million bbls over the week to 250.99 million bbls, amid a rise in demand.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, fell for the third consecutive week. The stocks dropped by 3.22 million bbls to 127.58 million bbls.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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