US crude stocks rise to 17-week highs

Front-month ICE Brent crude futures rose $0.42/bbl in the first 30 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 grew by 8.70 million bbls on the week, to 448.05 million bbls on 17 November – the highest since July, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The weekly stock build was smaller than the 9.05 million bbl-build estimated by the American Petroleum Institute (API) yesterday.

Official EIA data also showed that US refinery utilisation increased by 0.9 percentage points to 87% last week.

Gasoline stocks gained by 750,000 bbls over the week, to 216 million bbls.

Distillate stocks, which include diesel and gasoil, dropped by 1.02 million bbls to 106 million bbls – the lowest since May 2022.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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