(Adds details, analyst comment, price update)
NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - U.S. crude stocks rose last week as imports
increased and oil product inventories were mixed after refiners boosted
processing rates, government data showed on Wednesday.
Domestic stocks of crude oil rose by 2.86 million barrels in the week to
Oct. 12, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts polled in
advance by Reuters had forecast an increase of 1.7 million barrels.
Imports of crude rose by 126,000 barrels per day to 8.31 million bpd during
the week. EIA data also showed that U.S. oil production last week reached 6.61
million barrels per day, the highest level since May 1995.
U.S. oil product stocks were mixed as refinery utilization increased by 0.7
percentage point to 87.4 percent of capacity, compared with analyst expectations
for an increase of 0.3 percentage point.
In two important U.S. refining markets, the Midwest and the East Coast,
utilization rose by 5 percentage points. In the largest U.S. refining region,
the Gulf Coast, utilization fell by 1.9 percentage points, the data showed.
Distillate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 2.22
million barrels in the week, compared with analyst forecasts for a drop of 1.2
million barrels.
U.S. gasoline inventories rose by 1.72 million barrels, compared with
analyst expectations for a 500,000-barrel increase.
Demand in the world's largest consumer continued to lag year-ago levels,
with gasoline use over the four weeks to Oct. 12 down 2.3 percent from
year-earlier levels while distillate demand fell 4.2 percent. However,
distillate demand on a four-week average basis still reached its highest level
of 2012.
"Pressure on distillate stocks is a harbinger of crude oil demand to come,
keeping prices firm," said Michael Fitzpatrick, of newsletter Energy Overview in
New York.
Energy analysts have focused on distillate stocks, particularly in the East
Coast, the world's largest heating oil market, as temperatures drop ahead of the
winter heating season.
Distillate stocks in the East Coast region fell by 926,000 barrels last week
to 38.44 million barrels, the lowest level since June 2008, the EIA data showed.
Crude stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma fell by 140,000 barrels to 44.03 million
barrels.
U.S. crude futures turned negative after the data, trading down 31
cents at $91.78 a barrel by 11:06 a.m. EDT (1506 GMT).
(Reporting by Joshua Schneyer, Selam Gebrekidan and Robert Gibbons; Editing by
Dale Hudson)
