Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil inventories rose for the first time in four weeks and to their highest level in four months as early summer demand for motor fuels appears to have peaked after weeks of heavy processing by refiners trying to ensure adequate supply to market, the agency responsible for national energy data reported Wednesday.
Stocks of gasoline were flat from a week earlier and those of distillates surged their most in five weeks, the Weekly Petroleum Status Report from the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, showed.
The U.S. crude inventory balance jumped by 5.946 million barrels during the week ended July 7, versus the 1.508M barrels draw during the prior week to June 30, which was the largest in four months. Industry analysts tracked by Investing.com had forecast a build of only 0.483M for last week.
The crude draw reported by the EIA also came with its usual caveat — a release of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But even that this time was marginal, amounting to just 0.4M barrels. If that was subtracted, the overall crude build would still be 5.5M or so.
On the gasoline inventory side, the EIA reported a draw of a mere 3M (NYSE:MMM) barrels for last week. Analysts had expected the agency to cite a build of 0.727M barrels instead, to add to the prior week’s pull of 2.550M barrels. Automotive fuel gasoline is the No. 1 U.S. fuel product.
In the case of distillate stockpiles, the EIA reported a build of 4.815M barrels. Analysts had forecast a draw of 0.262M barrels last week, against a previous drop of 1.045M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships, and fuel for jets.