Title: U.S. Crude Stocks Drop Last Week

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that "crude oil stocks in the United States decreased last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories increased." Crude inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels in the week ending December 1, to 445 million barrels, compared to analysts' expectations in a Reuters survey predicting a decrease of 1.4 million barrels. The administration noted that "crude oil stocks at the Cushing delivery hub in Oklahoma increased by 1.8 million barrels last week." It stated that "U.S. refinery crude consumption rose by 179,000 barrels per day last week." Refinery utilization rates increased by 0.7 percentage points last week. The administration indicated that "gasoline inventories rose by 5.4 million barrels to 223.6 million barrels last week, compared to analysts' expectations in a Reuters survey predicting an increase of one million barrels." The data also showed that distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, increased by 1.3 million barrels last week to 112 million barrels, against expectations of a decrease of 1.5 million barrels.