(Reuters) – U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose and fuel inventories fell last week as seasonal refinery maintenance season ticked along, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels to 435.2 million barrels in the week ended March 7, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2 million-barrel rise.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 1.2 million barrels last week, the EIA said.
Oil futures rose following the report. Global benchmark Brent crude futures were up $1.24 to $70.82 a barrel by 11:01 a.m. EDT (1501 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures gained $1.41 to $67.66 a barrel.
“This week, the oil build was smaller than expected and gasoline and diesel draws were larger than expected. This evidences stronger demand and could see oil prices rise as a result,” said Josh Young, chief investment officer for Bison Interests.
Crude inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose to their highest level since 2022. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to fill the SPR to its maximum capacity, something that could take years and cost up to $20 billion to accomplish, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said last week.
Refinery crude runs rose by 321,000 barrels per day, while utilization rates, which have hovered around 85% since mid-January, rose by 0.6 percentage point in the week to 86.5%, the EIA said.
Gasoline stocks fell by 5.7 million barrels in the week to 241.1 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with expectations for a 1.9 million-barrel draw.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.6 million barrels in the week to 117.6 million barrels, versus expectations for a 800,000-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
U.S. gasoline and heating oil futures both rose following the larger-than-expected draws in fuel stocks.
Net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 503,000 bpd to 2.18 million bpd, the EIA said, but remained below this year’s average of 2.24 million bpd.
“An expected solid crude inventory build amid seasonal refinery maintenance and weaker exports has been usurped by very low crude imports — likely the result of tariff trepidation hitting Canadian flows,” said Matt Smith, an analyst for ship tracking company Kpler.
He also pointed to maintenance at Phillips 66’s 258,000-bpd Bayway refinery in New Jersey.
“Imports into the U.S. East Coast also remain low as the largest importer, Bayway, has its CDU down for maintenance,” he added.
Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Marguerita Choy
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