US crude, fuel stocks rose last week as demand slumped, EIA says

By Georgina McCartney and Liz Hampton

HOUSTON/DENVER, Jan 22 (Reuters) - U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate inventories rose last week as both refinery and consumer demand slumped, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.

Crude stocks rose by 3.6 million barrels to 426 million barrels in the week ended January 16, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.13-million-barrel rise.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub USOICC=ECI increased by 1.48 million barrels in the week, the EIA said.

Brent and U.S. crude futures, heating oil and gasoline futures all extended declines following the report.

"Another bearish data set from EIA, with large builds for crude, distillate and gasoline, as demand is seasonally weak. We will see if the cold weather will soon impact production, refinery and product demand," said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst with UBS.

Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI fell by 354,000 barrels per day, the EIA said, while utilization rates USOIRU=ECI dropped by 2 percentage points in the week to 93.3%.

Total product supplied, a proxy for demand, fell last week by 836,000 bpd to 20.17 million bpd. Gasoline demand slipped 470,000 bpd on the week to 7.83 million bpd, its lowest since January 2023, while distillate demand fell 571,000 bpd to 3.52 million bpd.

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI rose by 6 million barrels in the week to 257 million barrels, their highest since February 2021, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.71-million-barrel build.​

Distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, increased to their highest since January 2024, rising by 3.35 million barrels to 132.6 million barrels, versus expectations for a 162,000-barrel fall, the EIA data showed. Distillate stockpiles on the U.S. Gulf Coast hit their highest since August 2021.

Net U.S. crude imports USOICI=ECI fell last week by 27,000 bpd, EIA said.