US crude stocks fall to lowest level since January

The front-month ICE Brent crude futures fell by $1.34/bbl in the first 25 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 a massive 17.04 million bbls on the week, to 439.77 million bbls on 28 July – the lowest since January, according to the EIA's latest figures released today.

The weekly stock draw was bigger than the 15.4 million-bbl drop projected by the American Petroleum Institute (API) a day earlier.

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

Gasoline stocks rose by 1.48 million bbls over the week to 219 million bbls.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, dropped by 796,000 bbls to 117 million bbls. Despite the weekly drop, distillate stocks rose 4% in July compared to the previous month's average.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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