U.S. Crude-Oil Inventories Fall Sharply

Commercial crude-oil stockpiles dropped by 10.6 million barrels last week to 422.9 million barrels and are now 3% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall 2 million barrels from the prior week.

Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S. stocks, fell by 1.5 million barrels from the previous week to 29.2 million barrels, the EIA said.

U.S. crude-oil production was unchanged from the previous week, staying at a three-year-high of 12.8 million barrels a day, according to the EIA.

Gasoline stockpiles slipped by just 214,000 barrels to 217.4 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations of a 1.3-million-barrel decline.

Distillate stocks, which are mostly diesel fuel, rose by 1.2 million barrels to 117.9 million barrels, and are now about 15% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts had forecast distillates inventories would fall by 500,000 barrels last week.

The refining capacity utilization rate unexpectedly fell by 1.2 percentage points from the previous week to 93.3%, compared with expectations for a 0.2-percentage-point increase.

U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Aug. 25

Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use EIA data: -10.6 -0.2 +1.2 -1.2 Forecast: -2.0 -1.3 -0.5 +0.2

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

Write to Dan Molinski at [email protected]