(Reuters) – The United States withdrew 17.8 million barrels of crude oil from its inventories, the highest on record, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, as the Iran war has cut global supplies and raised demand for U.S. crude and products.
The country’s stock of oil fell to 819.2 million barrels as of May 15, the lowest in 11 months, data showed.
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Commercial stocks drew down by about 7.86 million barrels, while the country’s strategic stockpile eased by a record 9.9 million barrels.
Refining runs and exports of U.S. crude remained high. Exports of crude stood at around 5.6 million barrels per day, the second-highest on record, as lower Middle East supplies to Asia and Europe have pushed refiners in the regions to snap up U.S. barrels.
While refinery crude runs fell by 80,000 bpd in the week, utilization rates stayed high at 91.6% as demand for gasoline and jet fuel remained high.
Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston, Siddharth Cavale and Shariq Khan in New York Editing by Matthew Lewis
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