US crude stockpiles post surprise build as imports jump, EIA says

By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly last week as imports jumped, while both gasoline and distillate inventories fell more than expected, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories rose by 244,000 barrels to 443.1 million barrels in the week ended April 18, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 770,000-barrel draw.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub USOICC=ECI fell by 86,000 barrels last week, the EIA said.

Net U.S. crude imports USOICI=ECI rose by 1.14 million barrels per day to 2 million bpd, the EIA said, the largest weekly increase since November 2024.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 pared some losses after the data, despite the surprise build. The benchmarks were last down around 2% on the day.

Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI rose by 325,000 bpd and utilization rates USOIRU=ECI rose by 1.8 percentage points to 88.1% of total capacity, the EIA said.

Despite some gains in utilization rates, fuel stocks fell by more than expected.

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI fell by 4.5 million barrels in the week to 229.5 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations for a 1.4 million-barrel draw.​

Distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 2.4 million barrels in the week to 106.9 million barrels, the lowest since November 2023. Analysts had forecast a 30,000-barrel drop, the data showed.

"We saw another bullish products inventory decline during build season," said Josh Young, chief investment officer at Bison Interests. "It doesn't seem to reflect potential demand decline from Trump's tariff/trade war, yet."

The four-week average for product supplied of jet fuel rose to 1.86 million bpd, the highest since December 2019.