US crude, gasoline inventories fall on robust export demand, EIA says
Adds milestone in paragraph 2, products export in paragraph 5, comments in paragraph 6 and 11, gasoline demand in paragraph 9, updates oil prices in paragraph 8
By Arathy Somasekhar
HOUSTON, July 31 (Reuters) -U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories fell sharply last week on strong export demand, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday.
Crude stocks decreased by3.4 million barrels in the week ended July 26 to 433 million barrels, the EIA said, more than three times analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.1 million-drop. Stocks fell for a fifth straight week, the longest streak of drawdowns since January 2021.
Stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures USOICC=ECI fell by 1.1 million barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Exports of crude oil rose by 733,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 4.9 million bpd last week, resulting in a drop in net imports USOICI=ECI of 651,000 bpd to just over 2 million, the EIA said.
U.S. exports of total petroleum products rose by 148,000 bpd to 6.59 million bpd.
"Robust exports have helped to offset lower refining activity and strong imports to encourage a fifth consecutive draw to crude inventories," said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler, calling the report "modestly supportive" for oil prices.
Oil futures, however, pared gains slightly after the data, as refining utilization and implied gasoline demand eased last week.
U.S. crude futures CLc1 traded $2.24, or 3%, higher on the day at $76.97 a barrel by 11:20 a.m. ET (1520 GMT), while Brent crude LCOc1 rose $1.92, or 2.4%, to $80.55.
Finished motor gasoline supplied, an indicator of demand, fell 206,000 bpd to 9.25 million bpd last week, though the 4-week average climbed by 4.2 million bpd.
Gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI fell by 3.7 million barrels in the week to 223.8 million barrels, the EIA said, more than thrice expectations for a 1 million-barrel draw.
That was second consecutive weekly drawdown of the fuel, which was helped by steady demand and low refining runs, Kpler's Smith noted.
Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI fell by 257,000 bpd, and refinery utilization rates USOIRU=ECI fell by 1.5 percentage points in the week to 90.1% of total capacity.
However,distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.5 million barrels in the week to 126.8 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.2 million-barrel drop. East Coast stocks of the fuel rose to their highest since March 2023.
Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Marguerita Choy
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