Investing.com - U.S. stockpiles of crude oil fell last week for a second week in a row while inventories of fuel products gasoline and distillates rose, a government report said Wednesday.
The U.S. crude inventory balance fell by 2.169 million barrels during the week ended Sept. 22, according to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA. Analysts tracked by Investing.com had expected a crude draw of 0.9M barrels instead for last week to add to the 2.135M drop in the prior week to Sept. 15.
Aside from the headline drop in crude stockpiles, the EIA cited a drop of 0.943M barrels last week at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub that serves as a central delivery and storage point for U.S. crude. In the prior week, the EIA reported a Cushing deficit of 2.064M barrels.
On the fuels side, the EIA reported a gasoline inventory gain of 1.027M barrels. The forecast consensus had been for a gasoline draw of 0.5M barrels that would have added to the prior week’s decline of 0.8311M. Automotive fuel gasoline is the No. 1 U.S. fuel product.
With distillate stockpiles, there was a rise of 0.398M barrels versus the expected draw of 1.0M and the prior week’s drop of 2.867M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships and fuel for jets.