U.S. Crude Stocks Surge to Record as Distillates, Import Rise
U.S. crude stocks last week rose to a record high for a third straight week as distillate inventories increased unexpectedly and imports grew, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday.
For the biggest weekly build in almost a year, crude inventories rose by 10.4 million barrels to 518 million in the week to Feb. 26. That was almost triple the 3.6 million-barrel increase expected by analysts.
The build reported by the EIA was greater than the 9.9 million barrel build reported on Tuesday by industry group the American Petroleum Institute.
It was a bumper build across the nation.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 1.2 million barrels to 66.3 million barrels, reaching another all-time high, EIA said.
East Coast stockpiles hit their highest in almost 12 years and Gulf Coast inventories rose by the most since August 2008.
In the immediate aftermath, U.S. crude futures extended losses as the data reinforced concerns that the growing oversupply shows no signs of easing. Prices pared losses, then turned positive as attention returned to hopes that global producers will ramp up efforts to tackle the glut.
“It is a very tempered reaction in the face of a strong build,” Tony Headrick, energy market analyst at CHS Hedging LLC.
“Outside influences are perhaps attracting some buying which limits the decline this morning.”
U.S. crude was up 0.4 percent at $34.53.74 per barrel at 11:00 a.m. EST.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.9 million barrels to 163.6 million barrels, compared with expectations for a 1.2 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed. The total was its highest level seasonally since 2011.
U.S. crude imports rose last week by 502,000 barrels per day.
“Today’s EIA data will do very little to help oil’s recent bounce with a significant build in crude stocks, albeit somewhat skewed by a large increase in imports,” said Chris Jarvis, analyst at Caprock Risk Management in Frederick, Maryland.
Refinery crude runs rose by 167,000 barrels per day, EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates rose by 1 percentage point.
Gasoline stocks fell by 1.5 million barrels, more than a drop of 1.1 million barrels expected in a Reuters poll.