US crude stocks rise amid lower exports
The front-month ICE Brent contract rose by $0.35/bbl in the first hour 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 crude oil inventories in the US rose by 833,000 bbls to touch 419 million bbls on 6 September, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released today.
“The driving season is over, so demand, particularly on the gasoline side, is weakening. Also, lower exports of crude didn’t help,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo told ENGINE.
The stocks rose partly because of lower US crude oil exports and reduced refinery utilisation. US crude oil exports dropped by 451,000 b/d to 3.31 million b/d on the week.
Refinery crude runs dropped by 141,000 b/d as the country's refinery utilisation fell by 0.5 percentage points to 92.8% last week.
Gasoline stocks rose by 2.31 million bbls over the week to 222 million bbls, and distillate stocks also rose by 2.31 million bbls to 125 million bbls. Both gasoline and distillate stocks are at their highest level in four weeks.
By Debarati Bhattacharjee
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