Brent declines following US crude stock gain

The front-month ICE Brent contract dropped $0.32/bbl lower in the first 30 minutes after the official weekly oil figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) were released today.

IMAGE: Shadow of an oil pump jack against the US flag in the background. Getty Images

Commercial US crude oil inventories surged 8.7 million bbls higher to touch 423 million bbls for the week ending 31 January, according to data from the EIA.

The stockbuild came despite a one percentage point increase in US refinery utilisation, which reached 84.5%.

Gasoline stocks rose by 2.23 million bbls over the week to 251 million bbls, while middle distillate stocks declined by about 5.5 million bbls to 118 million bbls.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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