RTTN: U.S. Crude Inventories Unexpectedly Increase Last Week
(RTTNews) - Crude oil and gasoline inventories in the U.S. were up during the week ended September 17, official data showed Wednesday.
The U.S Energy Information Administration in its weekly crude oil report said U.S. commercial crude oil inventories were up by 1.0 million barrels to 358.30 million barrels last week and are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.
Analysts were expecting crude oil inventories to decrease by 1.50 million barrels last week.
The week before, inventories were down 2.50 million barrels to 357.40 million barrels.
Late Tuesday, industry data from the API revealed U.S. crude inventories were up by 2.2 million barrels in the week ended September 17.
Meanwhile, total motor gasoline inventories increased by 1.60 million barrels last week, after decreasing by 700,000 barrels in the prior week, and are above the upper limit of the average range.
Moreover, oil refinery inputs averaged 15.0 million barrels per day during the week, which were 41,000 barrels per day above the previous week's average.
Meantime, U.S. crude oil imports during the week averaged 9.3 million barrels per day last week, up by 295,000 barrels per day from the previous week, official data revealed. Over the last four weeks imports have averaged 9.2 million barrels per day, which were 114,000 barrels per day below the same four-week period last year.
Meanwhile, Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for November delivery edged up $0.57 to $75.54 a barrel. During September, oil has been moving in a range of $73 to $79 a barrel amid a mixed batch of economic data.
