Brent falls despite US crude stock draw

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures declined by $0.17/bbl in the first hour 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 crude oil inventories in the US dropped for the first time in seven weeks. It fell by 1.54 million bbls to 447 million bbls on 8 March, according to the EIA data.

Refinery crude runs in the US rose by 390,000 b/d as refinery utilisation increased by 1.9 percentage points to 86.8%.

Gasoline stocks dropped by a massive 5.66 million bbls over the week to 234.08 million bbls – the lowest in 11 weeks, indicating strong demand.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, have gained after declining for seven consecutive weeks. The stocks rose by 888,000 bbls to 117.90 million bbls.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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