US crude stocks continue to grow further

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures inched $0.21/bbl lower in the first 20 minutes after 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 grew by 7.64 million bbls on the week, to 479 million bbls on 17 February – a ninth consecutive week of builds, according to the EIA.

The stock build was lower than the 9.9 million-bbl build estimated by the American Petroleum Institute (API), but still higher than a Reuters analyst poll forecast of a 2.1 million-bbl build.

US refinery utilisation declined by 0.40 percentage points to a three-week low of 85.9%.

After growing consecutively for six weeks, gasoline stocks fell by 1% in the latest week.

US distillate stocks grew by 2.70 million bbls on the week, to 121.93 million bbls - the highest level in a year.

By Nithin Chandran

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