According to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), crude oil and petroleum product inventories changed last week, while gasoline inventories recorded an increase contrary to expectations.
According to the statistics, U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 3.2 million barrels, reaching 424.1 million barrels. This decline was significantly greater than the Reuters agency's forecast, which had said it expected a decrease of only 1.7 million barrels.
Alongside this overall decline, inventories at the main delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma, increased by 444 thousand barrels, while U.S. crude oil imports declined by 53 thousand barrels per day.
As for refined products, the data indicated an unexpected change; gasoline inventories increased by 0.4 million barrels, reaching 204.7 million barrels, while analysts had forecast a decline of 1.7 million barrels.
Meanwhile, refined product inventories remained steady at 105.1 million barrels, contrary to forecasts that expected a sharp decline of 2.1 million barrels.
On the other hand, increased demand for crude oil had a positive impact on the refining sector; crude oil consumption at refineries increased by 223 thousand barrels per day, while refinery utilization rose by 0.2 percentage points, reaching 92.7% that week.
