Follow-up - INA
The US Energy Information Administration announced on Wednesday a significant decline in US crude oil and gasoline inventories last week, while distillate stocks rose, pushing global oil prices to continue their gains in both spot and futures markets.
In its weekly report, reviewed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), the administration stated that "US crude oil inventories fell by 8.3 million barrels to 418.2 million barrels in the week ending June 12," noting that "this decrease exceeded analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll, who had predicted a decline of only 4.6 million barrels."
The report added that "crude oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub fell by 1.6 million barrels during the same week."
Following this data, oil prices continued their upward trend. Brent crude futures rose to $80.32 a barrel, up $1.36, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed $1.50 to $77.55 a barrel.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) noted that crude oil refining increased by 230,000 barrels per day, while refinery utilization rates rose 1.4 percentage points to 96.7%.
Regarding distillates, the report indicated that U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 906,000 barrels to 214.2 million barrels, compared to earlier expectations of a 1 million barrel decline. It also noted that distillate fuel inventories (which include diesel and heating oil) defied expectations, rising by 1 million barrels to 103.1 million barrels, while analysts had anticipated a 470,000 barrel decrease.
The statistical report concluded that "U.S. net crude oil imports fell last week by 241,000 barrels per day."