US crude stocks fall, fuel inventories rise, EIA says

By Liz Hampton and Georgina McCartney

U.S. crude stocks fell as exports surged last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, while fuel inventories were up despite higher demand.

Crude inventories fell by 2.3 million barrels to 423.8 million barrels in the week ended January 23, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.8 million-barrel rise.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub USOICC=ECI fell by 278,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said.

Oil futures were steady following the report. Global Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $68.18 a barrel, up 61 cents, at 10:35 a.m. ET (1535 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 were trading up 67 cents at $63.06 a barrel.

U.S. crude exports rose by 901,000 barrels per day to 4.59 million bpd last week, while net U.S. crude imports USOICI=ECI fell by 1.71 million barrels per day, EIA said.

"A solid report, with a modest gasoline and distillate build and a larger crude draw. Strong crude exports and lower imports helped to see another crude draw. The next report will be more interesting, to see the impact of the cold weather on the data," said Giovanni Staunovo, UBS analyst.

A winter storm has been sweeping across much of the U.S., straining energy infrastructure and power grids. Over the weekends, oil and liquefied natural gas exports from the U.S. Gulf Coast ground to a halt amid icy temperatures, according to ship-tracking service Vortexa.

Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI fell by 395,000 bpd, the EIA said, while utilization rates USOIRU=ECI fell by 2.4 percentage points in the week to 90.9% amid ongoing maintenance and as some refiners faced operational challenges amid frigid weather.

Total product supplied, a proxy for demand, rose by 503,000 bpd to 20.68 million bpd. Gasoline demand jumped by 923,000 bpd to 8.76 million bpd, while distillate demand was up 544,000 bpd to 4.07 million bpd.

"Gasoline demand was up big last week, apparently everyone went to get gasoline before the snow hit," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst for Price Futures Group.

Even so, U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI rose by 220,000 barrels in the week to 257.2 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1 million-barrel build.​

Distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 330,000 barrels in the week to 132.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 580,000-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.