Brent rises despite US crude stock build

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures rose marginally by $0.12/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 increased by 1.8 million bbls to 459 million bbls in the week ended 17 May.

Refinery crude runs increased by 227,000 b/d, as the country's refinery utilisation rose by 1.3 percentage points to 91.7% last week.

Gasoline stocks dropped by 945,000 bbls on the week to 227 million bbls.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, increased by 379,000 bbls to 117 million bbls – the highest in six weeks.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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