Crude inventories see sharp decline as exports rise, EIA says

By Liz Hampton and Arathy Somasekhar

Aug 20 (Reuters) - Crude inventories fell sharply last week amid lower imports and a jump in exports, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Crude oil stockpiles fell by 6 million barrels to 420.7 million barrels last week, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.8 million-barrel draw. Inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub USOICC=ECI rose by 419,000 barrels in the week ended August 15, the EIA said.

Oil futures continued to trade in positive territory following the report. Global Brent benchmark futures LCOc1 were at $66.37 a barrel, up 58 cents at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were trading at $62.83 a barrel, up 48 cents.

Net U.S. crude imports USOICI=ECI fell by 1.22 million barrels per day (bpd) last week, EIA said, while exports rose by 795,000 bpd to 4.37 million bpd.

"The exports are strong, so that's going to translate into a strong demand for crude oil," said John Kilduff, a partner with Again Capital. "That and the strong refinery demand really makes this a bullish report," he added.

Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI rose by 28,000 bpd in the week, while utilization rates USOIRU=ECI rose by 0.2 percentage points to 96.6%, the EIA said.

Total product-supplied of refined fuels, a proxy for demand, climbed to 21.5 million bpd, up 149,000 bpd week-over-week.

"A very positive report, supported by large U.S. crude draw, as results of high crude exports and lower imports. Also implied oil demand remained strong, resulting in another large inventory draw for gasoline," said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS.

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI fell by 2.7 million barrels in the week to 223.6 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 915,000 barrel draw.​

Distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.3 million barrels in the week to 116 million barrels, versus expectations for a 928,000 barrel rise, the EIA data showed.

The four-week average for jet fuel consumption rose last week to its highest level since 2019, the EIA said.