US crude stocks drop on stronger refinery demand

The front-month ICE Brent contract has dropped marginally in the first 30 minutes after the official weekly oil 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 dropped by 5.96 million bbls on the week, to 439.66 million bbls on 11 August - the lowest since January, according to the EIA's latest figures released today.

The weekly stock draw fell slightly short of the 6.20 million bbls drop estimated by the American Petroleum Institute (API) yesterday.

The US crude oil refinery inputs increased by 166,000 b/d on the week, to 16.70 million b/d on 11 August. The country's refinery utilisation increased by 0.9 percentage points to 95% in the past week.

Gasoline stocks dropped by 262,000 bbls over the week to 216 million bbls - the lowest in 11 weeks.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, increased by 296,000 bbls to 116 million bbls.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

Please get in touch with comments or additional info to news@engine.online