US crude stocks rise, imports from Venezuela and Mexico highest since late 2024, EIA says

By Liz Hampton and Georgina McCartney

DENVER, March 18 (Reuters) - U.S. crude stocks rose last week, with flows from Venezuela and Mexico hitting their highest levels since 2024, while gasoline and distillate inventories fell, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories rose by 6.2 million barrels to 449.3 million barrels in the week ended March 13, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 383,000-barrel rise.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub USOICC=ECI rose by 944,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said, hitting their highest level since August 2024.

Oil futures remained higher despite the larger-than-expected build in crude stocks. Global Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $108.56 a barrel, up $5.14, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were up $2.03 to $98.24 a barrel at 1:13 p.m. ET (1713 GMT).

The discount for U.S. crude futures versus Brent was the largest since May 2019 on Wednesday as the cost of freight rose and the U.S. prepared to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. O/R

IRAN WAR ACCELERATES OIL FLOWS

"This crude stock build would certainly be more bearish if there was not so much else going on," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital. Oil futures have surged after Iran's Revolutionary Guards threatened several energy facilities in the Middle East and Iran's huge Pars gas field took a hit.

"We have some big import, export numbers - there is a lot of grabbing and moving around of materials, all related to the Iran situation," Kilduff added.

Commercial crude oil imports rose last week to their highest level since November 2024. Net U.S. crude imports USOICI=ECI fell by 692,000 barrels per day, as U.S. crude exports jumped by 1.47 million bpd to 4.9 million bpd, the EIA said.

Gulf Coast crude imports rose to their highest level since July 2020, with flows from Saudi Arabia hitting their highest over that time period. Imports from Venezuela rose to their highest level since December 2024, the EIA said, while those from Mexico were at their highest since November 2024.

Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI rose by 63,000 bpd, the EIA said, while utilization rates USOIRU=ECI rose by 0.6 percentage point in the week to 91.4%.

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI fell by 5.4 million barrels in the week to 244 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations for a 1.6 million-barrel draw.​

Distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 2.5 million barrels in the week to 116.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.5-million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.

Total product supplied, a proxy for demand, rose by 438,000 bpd to 21.639 million bpd. Product supplied of jet fuel fell last week to its lowest level since February 2024.