Brent rises as US crude stocks drop

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures rose by $0.58/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 dropped by 1.36 million bbls to 460 million bbls in the week ended 3 May.

The stocks dropped amid higher US crude oil exports and increased refinery utilisation. Crude oil exports from the US increased by 550,000 b/d on the week to 4.47 million b/d.

Refinery crude runs also increased by 307,000 b/d, as the country's refinery utilisation rose by one percentage point to 88.5% last week.

Gasoline stocks rose by 915,000 bbls over the week to 228 million bbls.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, also increased by 560,000 bbls to 116 million bbls.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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