The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported today that "crude oil, gasoline, and distillate inventories in the United States decreased last week." It noted that "inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub fell by 2.6 million barrels last week." The report explained that "the consumption of crude oil by U.S. refineries decreased by 107,000 barrels per day last week, and refinery utilization rates dropped by 0.9 percentage points over the week."
On another note, the administration indicated that "gasoline inventories fell by 786,000 barrels to 217.6 million, compared to analysts' expectations in a Reuters survey of a decrease of 1.7 million barrels." The data from the Energy Information Administration showed that distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, decreased by 245,000 barrels last week to 117.9 million barrels, against analysts' expectations for a decline of 301,000 barrels in a Reuters survey.
The administration also stated that "U.S. net crude oil imports decreased last week by 1.58 million barrels per day." Crude oil inventories dropped by 600,000 barrels last week to 456.8 million barrels, in contrast to analysts' forecasts for a decrease of 2.3 million barrels in a Reuters survey.
