US crude stocks rise, gasoline and distillate stocks drawn

The front-month ICE Brent crude future has held steady in the first 30 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 rose by 5.85 million bbls on the week, to 445.62 million bbls on 4 August, according to the EIA's latest figures released today.

The weekly stock build was bigger than the 4.07 million bbls build estimated by the American Petroleum Institute (API) yesterday.

US refinery utilisation increased by 1.1 percentage points to 94% in the past week.

Gasoline stocks dropped by 2.66 million bbls over the week to 216 million bbls - the lowest in 10 weeks.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, plunged by 1.70 million bbls on the week and hit a five-week low of 115 million bbls.

By Debarati bhattacharjee

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