Doha: The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported today that US crude oil inventories increased last week.
According to Qatar News Agency, the EIA, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy, revealed in its weekly report that crude oil inventories rose by 2.5 million barrels to 407.0 million barrels. This increase contrasts with analysts' expectations, who had predicted a 1.5-million-barrel decline.
The agency highlighted that total US crude oil inventories, which include commercial stocks and the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell to 711.8 million barrels. This marks the lowest level since March 1984. Additionally, crude inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub saw an increase of 2.4 million barrels during the week, reaching 20.96 million barrels, thus moving back above the estimated minimum operating level of about 20 million barrels.
The report further detailed that refinery crude oil inputs decreased by 183,000 barrels per day, while refinery utilization rates saw a decline of 0.7 percentage points to 96.5% during the week. Meanwhile, imports experienced a rise of about 515,000 barrels per day, reaching 6.2 million barrels per day.
Moreover, the agency added that net US crude oil imports went up by 297,000 barrels per day last week.