US crude stockpiles draw unexpectedly on export, refinery demand, EIA says

By Arathy Somasekhar and Laila Kearney

HOUSTON, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week on higher export and refinery demand, while gasoline drew down for a ninth straight week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories fell by 2.7 million barrels to 440.4 million barrels in the week ended April 25, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 429,000-barrel rise.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for futures USOICC=ECI rose by 682,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.

Crude prices recovered some losses after the data, with West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 trading 38 cents, or 0.7%, lower at $60.02 by 11:27 a.m. ET (1527 GMT), while Brent crude LCOc1 fell 76 cents, or 1.2%, at $63.49 a barrel. They dropped about 2% each earlier in the session.

The big surprise draw in crude oil was due to an increase in the refinery utilization rates and a rise in exports, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.

Net crude imports USOICI=ECI fell last week by 663,000 barrels per day (bpd) as exports rose by 572,000 bpd to 4.1 million bpd in the week.

Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI rose by 189,000 bpd in the week, while refinery utilization rates USOIRU=ECI rose by 0.5 percentage point to 88.6% of total capacity.

Domestic crude production, meanwhile, inched up 5,000 bpd to 13.5 million bpd.

"We're still going strong and drawing a substantial amount of crude oil through the system and the refineries," said Tim Snyder, chief economist at Matador Economics.

Gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI fell by 4 million barrels in the week to 225.5 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with forecasts for a 1 million-barrel draw.

The gasoline draw was the ninth consecutive weekly fall, the longest declining streak in the world's top fuel-consuming nation since an 11-week slump that ended in June 2022, data showed.

Distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 900,000 barrels in the week to 107.8 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.6 million-barrel drop, data showed.