Investing.com - U.S. crude oil inventories fell twice more than expected last week though way below the prior blockbuster draw, the agency responsible for national energy data reported Wednesday.
Gasoline and distillate stocks also fell, though again not by extraordinary levels, the Weekly Petroleum Status Report from the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, showed.
The U.S. crude inventory balance fell by 1.508M barrels during the week ended June 30, versus the 9.603M barrels drawn during the prior week to June 23, which was the largest in three months. The latest crude pull from storage was still higher than the 0.983M forecast by industry analysts tracked by Investing.com.
The crude draw reported by the EIA also came with a usual caveat: The release of 1.5M barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, without which the inventory drop would logically have been 3M or so.
On the gasoline inventory side, the EIA reported a draw of 2.550M barrels for last week. Analysts had expected the agency to cite a draw of 1.417M barrels instead, after the prior week’s gain of 0.603M barrels. Automotive fuel gasoline is the No. 1 U.S. fuel product.
In the case of distillate stockpiles, the EIA reported a decline of 1.045M barrels. Analysts had forecast a rise of just 0.296M barrels last week, against a previous build of 0.124M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains, and ships, and fuel for jets.