Brent edges lower amid US crude stock build
Front-month ICE Brent crude futures dropped by a slight $0.17/bbl in the first hour after official weekly US crude stock figures came out today.
PHOTO: Refinery and oil storage tanks with Long Beach, California in the background. Getty Images
Commercial US crude inventories rose by 1.23 million bbls on the week, to 421.91 million bbls on 26 January, according to the EIA. The weekly stock build ran counter to the American Petroleum Institute's (API) projection of 2.5 million bbls draw a day earlier.
US refineries processed about 14.8 million b/d of crude last week, down from 15.3 million b/d in the week before. This decline is a result of reduced refinery utilisation as recent winter-induced adverse weather has impacted production.
Official EIA data showed that US refinery utilisation dropped by 2.6 percentage points to 83% - the lowest since December 2022.
Gasoline stocks grew by 1.16 million bbls over the week to 254.13 million bbls - the highest since June 2020.
Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, fell by 2.54 million bbls to 130.80 million bbls.
By Nithin Chandran
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