Gasoline inventories fall to 6% below five-year average

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose by 3 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 18 to 426.4 million barrels, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The build came against expectations: analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast crude stocks would fall by 500,000 barrels. Commercial crude stocks sat about 2% above the five-year average for the time of year.

The unexpected build was driven by two factors, according to the EIA data. Refinery utilization dropped to 94% of capacity from 96.8% the previous week, and crude input to refineries fell by 519,000 barrels a day to 16.8 million barrels a day. Refinery runs had been forecast to slow by 0.6 of a percentage point.

Net imports rose at the same time. Crude imports fell by 1.2 million barrels a day to 5.9 million barrels a day, but exports dropped more sharply, by 1.6 million barrels a day to 3.3 million barrels a day. Net imports were up by 369,000 barrels a day from the previous week.

U.S. crude oil production was estimated at 13.9 million barrels a day, down by 5,000 barrels a day from the prior week. Stocks at Cushing, the Nymex delivery hub, rose by 2.3 million barrels to 23.7 million barrels. Oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 405,000 barrels to 284.6 million barrels.

The refined-product picture was tighter. Gasoline inventories fell by 1.7 million barrels to 206 million barrels, about 6% below the five-year average for the season. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected gasoline stocks to be unchanged. Gasoline demand was 8.8 million barrels a day, up 50,000 barrels a day from the previous week.

Distillate fuel stocks fell by 428,000 barrels to 107.4 million barrels, about 12% below the five-year average for the time of year. The Journal survey had forecast distillate inventories would fall by 500,000 barrels.

The data was reported by Anthony Harrup of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.