Rise in U.S. Crude and Gasoline Stocks, Decline in Distillate Inventories

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that "crude oil and gasoline inventories in the United States increased last week, while distillate inventories fell." Crude stocks rose by 1.2 million barrels to 420.7 million barrels for the week ending January 26, compared to analysts' expectations in a Reuters survey for a decrease of 217,000 barrels. It was noted that "oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub dropped by 2 million barrels last week." The report stated that "U.S. refiners' crude oil consumption fell by 428,000 barrels per day last week." Refinery utilization rates decreased by 2.6 percentage points during the past week. The agency indicated that "gasoline inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels to 253 million last week, compared to analysts' expectations in a Reuters survey for an increase of 1.5 million." The data showed that distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, declined by 2.5 million barrels last week to 133.3 million, against expectations for a decrease of 400,000. The agency also stated that net U.S. crude oil imports rose by 565,000 barrels per day last week.