US crude stock draw falls short of expectations

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures has remained steady in the first 20 minutes after the official weekly figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) were released today.

PHOTO: Oil refinery complex with big American flag displayed, and fumes coming out from the chimney. Getty Images

Commercial US crude inventories decreased by 2.14 million bbls on the week, to 418.47 million bbls on 15 September, according to the EIA's latest figures released today.

The weekly stock draw was much smaller than the 5.25 million bbls-draw estimated by the American Petroleum Institute (API) yesterday.

US refinery utilisation fell by 1.8 percentage points to an 11-week low of 91.9%. However, West Coast refinery utilisation rose by 1.1 percentage points to 93.1% - the highest in 10 weeks.

Gasoline stocks dropped by 831,000 bbls over the week, to 219 million bbls.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, dropped by a massive 2.87 million bbls to 120 million bbls.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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