Crude oil prices fell as US inventory surprisingly increased last week. The report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that total crude oil and petroleum products stocks gained +3.3 mmb to 1206.9 mmb in the week ended June 29. Crude oil inventory added +1.25 mmb (consensus: -3.54 mmb) to 417.88 mmb, although inventories decreased in 4 out of 5 PADDs. Meanwhile, PADD III saw inventory gain of +2.95 mmb. Cushing stock slipped -2.11 mmb to 27.78 mmb. Utilization rate slipped -0.4% to 97.1%. Meanwhile, crude production steadied at 10.9M bpd for the week.
Concerning refined oil product inventories. Gasoline inventory declined -1.51 mmb to 239.69 mmb although demand gained +1.42% to 9.87M bpd. The market had anticipated a -0.82 mmb decrease in stockpile. Production added +1.67% to 10.31M bpd while imports plunged -34.41% to 0.65M bpd during the week.
Distillate inventory increased +0.13 mmb to 117.56 mmb. The market had anticipated a -0.55 mmb drop. This came as a result of a +14.23% rose in demand to 4.13M bpd. Production added +1.24% to 5.46M bpd while imports soared +70.37% to 0.09M bpd during the week.
Released after market close on Wednesday, the industry- sponsored API estimated that crude oil inventory fell -4.5 mmb during the week. For refined oil products, gasoline stockpile dropped -3.1Â mmb while distillate was down -0.4 mmb.