NS: US OIL INVENTORIES: Crude Stocks Fall 0.9 Million Barrels
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- U.S. crude inventories fell last week, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Energy, though the decline was smaller than analysts had anticipated.
Crude oil stockpiles fell 900,000 barrels to 358.6 million barrels, compared with an average survey estimate calling for a decline of 2.4 million barrels. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported a 3.2-million- barrel draw in its weekly report released late Wednesday.
Oil prices held on to gains following the report. Light, sweet crude for August delivery was recently trading $2.46, or 2.6%, higher at $99.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after two sets of data showed improvements in the U.S. job market.
Gasoline futures were recently 3.5% higher at $3.1038 a gallon, while heating oil futures gained 3.7% to $3.0728 a gallon.
Crude stockpiles have fallen for five-straight weeks, but remain above last year's levels. Gasoline stocks have fallen for three-straight weeks, and are more than 6 million barrels below levels seen this time last year.
Gasoline stockpiles fell 600,000 barrels to 212.5 million barrels, the department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report, compared with 900,000-barrel increase forecast in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell 200,000 barrels to 142.1 million barrels, compared with analysts' forecast of a 200,000- barrel increase.
Refining capacity utilization rose 0.3 percentage point to 88.4%. Analysts had expected an increase of 0.2 percentage point.
API pegged refinery utilization at 86.3% of capacity last week, down 0.2 percentage point. The industry group reported stockpiles of gasoline fell 1.9 million barrels and distillates fell 1.6 million barrels.
U.S. Oil Inventories:
For week ended July 1:
Crude Distillates Gasoline Refinery Use
EIA data: -0.9 -0.2 -0.6 +0.3
Forecast: -2.4 +0.2 +0.9 +0.2
Figures in millions of barrels, except for refining use, which is reported in percentage points. Forecasts are the average of expectations in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts earlier in the week.
-By Jerry A. DiColo, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2155; jerry.dicolo@ dowjones.com
