U.S. Crude Oil and Gasoline Inventories Decline

U.S. inventories of crude oil and gasoline saw significant declines last week, according to a recent report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Crude Oil Stockpiles

Commercial crude-oil stockpiles dropped by 6.3 million barrels last week to 416.6 million barrels, which is 4% below the five-year average. This decrease exceeded analyst expectations, who had predicted a fall of 2.1 million barrels.

Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S. stocks, also fell by 1.8 million barrels from the previous week to 27.4 million barrels.

Gasoline Inventory

Gasoline stockpiles experienced a decline of 2.7 million barrels, reaching 214.7 million barrels. This exceeded analysts' projections of a 1.2-million-barrel decline.

Distillate Stocks

Distillate stocks, mainly consisting of diesel fuel, rose by 679,000 barrels to 118.6 million barrels. However, they remain about 14% below the five-year average.

Refinery Utilization

The refining capacity utilization rate slightly decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 93.1%, defying expectations of a 0.1-percentage-point increase.

The overall findings indicate that U.S. inventories of crude oil and gasoline have declined significantly, with crude stockpiles continuing to dip below the five-year average. Analysts had underestimated the scale of these decreases and were surprised by the rise in distillate stocks.

Based on EIA data, these inventory changes paint a dynamic picture of the energy market's current state.

Note: All values are in millions of barrels, except for refinery utilization, which is measured in percentage points.