Brent prices slump after US crude stockpiles rise

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures declined by $0.45/bbl in the first hour after the official weekly oil figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) were released today.

PHOTO: Oil refinery and pipeline in the desert during sunset. Getty Images

Commercial crude oil inventories in the US rose by 2.74 million bbls to 459.99 million bbls on 12 April - highest level since June last year.

US refinery utilisation fell marginally by 0.1 percentage point to 88.1% last week.

Gasoline stocks slumped by 1.15 million bbls over the week to 227 million bbls.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, dropped by 2.76 million bbls to 115 million bbls. Both gasoline and distillate stocks have dropped to their lowest level since last December, signalling improved demand.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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