US crude stocks and distillate inventories rise, gasoline inventories fall, EIA says

By Nicole Jao

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. crude stocks rose more than expected and distillate inventories posted a surprise jump, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories rose by 6.9 million barrels to 456.2 million barrels in the week ended March 20, the highest since June 2024, the EIA said. This compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 477,000-barrel rise.

The rise in crude oil inventories was the biggest jump since February, the EIA data showed.

The market was looking for exports to be up strongly in this report because of the war in Iran with barrels shut in the Persian Gulf, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. "In other words, nobody came to the United States to load up on crude oil to make up for the barrels that they were missing in the Middle East. That to me is a surprise."

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub USOICC=ECI rose by 3.4 million barrels in the week, the EIA said.

Following the report, oil futures were little changed, remaining in negative territory, as the market continued to focus on the Iran war. Global Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $100.28 a barrel, down $4.21, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were down $3.83 at $88.52 a barrel at 10:48 a.m. ET (1448 GMT). O/R

"Besides the gasoline draw, supported by higher implied gasoline demand, there are not many bullish elements in the EIA report, which had large builds for crude and distillate," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. "The market focus remains, however, for now on the conflict in the Middle East."

Distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 3 million barrels in the week to 119.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.3 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.

Analysts had expected the Middle East fuel supply disruption to greatly bolster demand for U.S. distillates.

"I would have thought that anybody in the Eurozone looking to fill that gap would have come the United States and picked up more diesel," Yawger said.

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI fell by 2.6 million barrels in the week to 241.4 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.1 million-barrel draw.​

Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI rose by 366,000 barrels per day in the week, the EIA said.

Refinery utilization rates USOIRU=ECI rose by 1.5 percentage points in the week.

Net U.S. crude imports USOICI=ECI rose last week by 846,000 barrels per day, EIA said.