Brent drops despite US crude stock draw

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures dropped by $0.47/bbl in the first hour after the official weekly oil figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) were released today.

PHOTO: Oil barrels. Getty Images

Commercial crude oil inventories in the US dropped by 4.16 million bbls to 455 million bbls in the week ending 24 May.

Refinery crude runs increased by 601,000 b/d as the country's refinery utilisation rose by 2.6 percentage points to 94.3% last week. US refinery utilisation has averaged 91% this month - the highest since January.

Gasoline stocks increased by 2.02 million bbls on the week to 229 million bbls – the highest in nine weeks.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, increased by 2.54 million bbls to 119 million bbls – the highest in thirteen weeks.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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