US crude stocks drop unexpectedly

The front-month ICE Brent crude future fell by $0.13/bbl 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 fell by 600,000 bbls on the week, to 456.82 million bbls on 21 July, according to the EIA's latest figures released today.

The weekly stock draw ran counter to the American Petroleum Institute (API) projection of a 1.13 million bbls build a day earlier.

US refinery utilisation increased by 1 percentage point to 94% so far in July, which is up from 93% in June and 92% in May.

Gasoline stocks fell by 786,000 bbls over the week to 218 million bbls – the lowest in eight weeks.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, dropped by 245,000 bbls to 118 million bbls.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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