US crude stock build smaller than expected

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures remained stable in the first 30 minutes after the official weekly oil figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) were released today.

PHOTO: Getty Images

Commercial crude oil inventories in the US increased by 4 million bbls to reach 447.16 million bbls on 23 February, according to the EIA. The weekly stock build was much smaller than the American Petroleum Institute's (API) projection of 8.42 million bbls build a day earlier.

The official EIA data showed that US refinery utilisation increased by 0.9 percentage points to 81%. Refinery utilisation has averaged 81% this month, down from 87% in January.

Gasoline stocks dropped by 2.83 million bbls over the week to 244.21 million bbls – the lowest in eight weeks. Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, have declined for the fifth consecutive week. The stocks dropped by 510,000 bbls to 121.14 million bbls.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

Please get in touch with comments or additional info to news@engine.online