US crude stock draw smaller than expected

The front-month ICE Brent crude future fell by $0.16/bbl in the first 40 minutes after the official weekly oil 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 the chimney. Getty Images

Commercial US crude inventories fell by 708,000 bbls on the week, to 457.42 million bbls on 14 July, according to the EIA's latest figures released today.

The weekly stock draw was slightly smaller than the American Petroleum Institute (API) projection of a 800,000 bbls draw a day earlier.

US refinery utilisation increased by 1 percentage points to 94% so far in July, which is up from 93% in June and 92% in May.

Gasoline stocks fell by 1.1 million bbls over the week to 218.4 million bbls – the lowest in seven weeks.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, increased by 13,000 bbls to 118.2 million bbls – the highest since the week that ended 10 March.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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