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US crude stocks dropped less than expected in the past week as gasoline stocks fell amid a rise in distillate inventories, according to Energy Information Administration data.

In comparison to the 1.1 million barrels drop expected by analysts, the crude inventories dropped 905,000 barrels. There was a 385,000 barrel drop of crude stocks in the delivery hub at Cushing, Oklahoma.
According to Reuters, there was 114,000 barrels a day drop in refinery crude and a 0.2% drop of the refinery utilization rate to 93.3% capacity.

Gasoline stocks dropped 2.3 million barrels in comparison to the expectations by analysts. Distillate stockpiles such as heating oil and diesel, increased by 605,000 barrels. This is against the expectation of the 500,000 drop in barrels.

Last week, imports for US crude increased by 42,000 barrels a day. New York based Energy Management Institute senior partner, Dominick Chirichella said, “The report is a little bearish because of the build in crude inventories on the Gulf Coast, in PADD ₃ and with crude stocks off a little in Cushing, it points to the Gulf Coast becoming more relevant.”

In the PADD ₃ region, crude stocks at the US Gulf Coast increased to 189.7 million barrels last week by 659,000 barrels. Crude stocks dropped by 1.7 million barrels at the West Coast, PADD ₅, which was the main cause of the decline in the crude stocks.

John Kilduff, Again Capital LLC partner said, “The report is mildly supportive, due mostly to the large gasoline inventory drawdown.”

Investing.com reports that the data from the US service sector failed to prevent the losses. The services index for the Institute of Supply Management increased from July’s 58.7 to August’s 59.6, above the 57.5 market forecast.
In London’s ICE Futures Exchange, October delivery Brent oil futures dropped 0.54%, $102.22 per barrel. The spread between US crude and Brent contract was $7.66 per barrel.

The krona rose 0.2 percent to 9.1954 per euro and was slightly unchanged at 7.005 per dollar.


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