Brent falls amid big US crude stock build

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures fell by $1.19/bbl in the first hour after the official weekly oil figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) were released today.

PHOTO: An oil pumpjack with the US flag in the background. Getty Images

Commercial crude oil inventories in the US rose by 7.27 million bbls to 461 million bbls in the week ended 26 April – to its highest level since June 2023.

The stocks rose amid lower US crude oil exports and reduced refinery utilisation. US crude oil exports dropped by 1.26 million b/d to 3.92 million b/d on the week.

The country's refinery utilisation dropped by one percentage point to 87.5% last week.

Gasoline stocks rose by 344,000 bbls over the week to 227 million bbls.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, dropped by 732,000 bbls to 116 million bbls.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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