US crude stock build falls short of expectations again
Front-month ICE Brent crude futures held unchanged in the first 20 minutes after official weekly figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) were released this afternoon.
PHOTO: A storage facility for oil, before it will be transported for refining, distribution and consumption throughout the US. Getty Images
Commercial US crude inventories grew by 4.14 million bbls on the week, to 452.68 million bbls on 27 January, according to the EIA. The stock build was lower than the 6.3 million bbl-build forecast by the American Petroleum Institute (API) yesterday.
US refinery utilisation declined by 0.40 percentage points to 85.7%. West Coast refinery utlisation plunged to a multi-week low of 73%, while East Coast utlisation fell to a three-week low of 91%.
Gasoline stocks gained for a fifth consecutive week, which may signal weaker demand.
By Nithin Chandran
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