US crude stocks decline to five-week low, gasoline stocks also fall

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures declined by $0.65/bbl in the first 30 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 the chimney. Getty Images

Commercial US crude inventories shrank by a massive 7.49 million bbls on the week, to 473.69 million bbls on 24 March, according to the EIA's latest figures released today.

The stock draw was bigger than the 6.1 million-bbl draw estimated by the American Petroleum Institute (API) yesterday.

US refinery utilisation increased by 1.70 percentage points to a 13-week high of 90.3%. Gulf Coast refinery utilisation reached 94.7% - the highest since last December.

Gasoline stocks fell for a sixth consecutive week to 227 million bbls.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, were roughly steady on the week.

By Nithin Chandran

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