NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- U.S. inventories of crude oil and refined products showed an unexpected build last week, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Crude oil stockpiles edged up by 360,000 barrels to 353.5 million barrels for the week ended July 16, compared with an average survey estimate of a 1.3- million barrel drop. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported a draw of 200,000 barrels last week.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil and refined product futures gave up early gains and headed into negative territory. September crude oil futures were recently down 0.8% at $77.02 a barrel, August gasoline was down 0.1% at $2.0764 a gallon and August heating oil fell 1% to $2.004 a gallon.
The U.S. is flush with supplies of crude oil and refined products as all three are at unusually high levels with demand for gasoline and distillates creeping up after falling sharply during the recession. The peak summer driving season is half over without showing a major rebound in demand despite falling gasoline prices at the pump. EIA data show that inventories of crude oil and gasoline are sitting just above their five-year range but that the overhang is significantly greater for distillates.
Gasoline stockpiles added 1.1 million barrels to 222.2 million barrels, the department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. The forecast was for an increase of 700,000 barrels based a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 14 analysts.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, expanded by 3.9 million barrels to 166.6 million barrels, versus analysts' estimate of a 1.6- million barrel rise.
Refining capacity utilization rose 1 percentage point to 91.5%, the highest average seen since the week ended Aug. 31, 2007. Analysts had expected a 0.3- percentage-point drop.
API pegged refinery runs at 88.7% of capacity last week, a 1.7-percentage point gain, and that gasoline inventories fell by 400,000 barrels while distillate stocks rose by 1 million barrels.
U.S. Oil Inventories:
For week ended July 16:
Crude Distillates Gasoline Refinery Use
EIA data: +0.4 +3.9 +1.1 +1.0
Forecast: -1.3 +1.6 +0.7 -0.3
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 Naureen S. Malik, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-4210; naureen.malik@ dowjones.com
