Brent gains as US crude stock build falls short of API estimate

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures climbed by $0.61/bbl in the first 20 minutes after official weekly figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) were released today.

PHOTO: Oil refinery complex with big American flag displayed, and fumes coming out from a chimney. Getty Images

Commercial US crude inventories grew by 1.16 million bbls on the week, to 480.2 million bbls on 24 February, according to the EIA. That was the 10th straight week of builds and the inventories averaged 5% higher in February than in January.

The weekly stock build fell short of the 6.2 million-bbl build estimated by the American Petroleum Institute (API), but was still higher than a Reuters analyst poll forecast of a 700,000-bbl build.

US refinery utilisation declined by 0.10 percentage points to 85.8%. Utilisation averaged 87% in February, which was slightly up from 85% in January.

Gasoline stocks fell for a second consecutive week, which may signal a demand recovery.

Meanwhile, distillate stocks - which include diesel - grew for a second consecutive week and hit a multi-week high.

By Nithin Chandran

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