Brent price drops after US crude stockpiles rise

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures dropped by $1.66/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 a refinery in the background. Getty Images

Commercial crude oil inventories in the US increased by 3.89 million bbls to touch 417 million bbls on 27 September, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released today.

Less crude oil was drawn out of storage for refining across the US. Refinery crude runs dropped by 662,000 b/d as the country's refinery utilisation fell by 3.3 percentage points to 87.6% last week - the lowest since April.

"Hurricanee Helene weighed on refinery activity at the Gulf Coast," UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo told ENGINE.

Gasoline stocks increased by 1.12 million bbls over the week to 221 million bbls, while distillate stocks dropped by 1.28 million bbls to 122 million bbls.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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