U.S. crude stockpiles up 1.2M barrels last week, rising 10th week in row

By Barani Krishnan

Investing.com -- U.S. crude stockpiles rose for a 10th straight week last week but the build was also the smallest in four weeks, government data showed.

U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.165 million barrels during the week ended Feb. 24, the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, said in its Weekly Petroleum Status Report.

It was the smallest U.S. crude stockpile rise over the past four weeks, although it extended the 16.283M barrels built in the prior week to Feb. 17.

Industry analysts tracked by Investing.com had forecast a build of just 0.457M on average for the week ended Feb. 24.

U.S. commercial crude inventories have risen by around 60M barrels so far this year.

The climb came amid seasonal maintenance and other disruptions at U.S. refineries that foresaw less processing of crude.

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15M barrels per day last week, which was 31,000 barrels per day less than the previous week's average.

Refineries operated at 85.8% of their operable capacity last week, the agency added. Typically, inventory runs at this time of the year are about 90% or more.

On the gasoline inventory front, the EIA reported a draw of 0.874M, versus the forecast rise of 0.464M and against the previous week's deficit of 1.856M. Notwithstanding last week's draw, gasoline inventories are up by more than 16M barrels since 2023 began. Automotive fuel gasoline is the No. 1 U.S. fuel product.

While gasoline inventories fell, distillate stockpiles rose for a third week in a row. Until last month, distillates, which are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains, and ships, and fuel for jets, were the strongest component of the U.S. petroleum complex in terms of demand.

Distillate stockpiles rose by 0.179M versus the expected slide of 0.462M. In the previous week, distillates rose by 2.698M.