EIA: US crude inventories drop sharply after net imports reach record lows

The Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that U.S. crude stockpiles declined sharply as net imports plunged to a new record low, while exports jumped to a nearly two-year high.

The EIA reported that gasoline inventories declined unexpectedly during the week ending September 12 while distillate stocks rose more than expected.

The EIA reported that crude stocks dropped by 9.3 millions barrels to 415.4 million last week, as opposed to the analysts' expectation in a poll of a draw of 857,000 barrels. U.S. crude oil exports increased by 2.53 millions barrels per day to 5.28million bpd. This is the highest level of U.S. crude since December 2023. The net U.S. crude exports dropped by 3.11m bpd and reached their lowest level since 2021.

The EIA reported that crude stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma's delivery hub, fell by 296,000 barrels during the past week.

Some analysts have suggested that the high crude export number could be an aberration.

We have a lot of variability in our crude oil export data. John Kilduff is a partner at Again Capital. "Last week, it was very low and this week, it was extremely high."

Crude oil futures initially rose after the bigger-than-expected drop, but later pared those gains to remain in negative territory. Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, were trading at $68.29 per barrel at 10:53 am EDT (1453 GMT), down 18 cents. U.S. crude was 22 cents below at $64.30.

Analysts also noted that a surge in distillate stocks, which raised concerns over demand, helped to keep prices under control.

The markets seem to be responding to diesel, the soft underbelly that is the whole complex, said Phil Flynn. He's a senior analyst at Price Futures Group.

The EIA reported that distillate stocks, which includes diesel and heating oil rose by 4,000,000 barrels last week, as opposed to the expectation of a 1,000,000 barrel increase.

The EIA reported that gasoline stocks dropped by 2.3m barrels last week, to 217.6m barrels. This is compared to forecasts of a 100,000 barrel build. ?

Total product, which is a proxy for the demand, was 20,64 million bpd. This was up from 19,78 million bpd in the previous week. Refinery crude rundowns fell by 394,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the past week. Utilization rates also fell 1.6 percentage points, to 93.3%.

(source: Reuters)