By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude oil stocks fell more than expected last week and gasoline inventories declined, while refineries increased their capacity use, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude-oil stocks--excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve--fell to 436.6 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 22 from 443.7 million barrels the previous week, and were about 1% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would decrease by 2.4 million barrels.

Storage in the SPR rose by 793,000 barrels, to 353.3 million barrels, the EIA said.

Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, rose by 1.5 million barrels to 34 million barrels as refineries increased their capacity use to 93.3% from 92.4% the week before, the EIA said. Expectations were for refinery runs to be unchanged from the previous week.

Crude futures were lower Thursday as concerns about shipping disruptions in the Red Sea eased. The Nymex crude contract for February was down 1.3% at $73.12 a barrel and international benchmark Brent was down 1.3% at $78.59 a barrel.

Gasoline stockpiles fell to 226.1 million barrels from 226.7 million a week earlier, the EIA said. Gasoline inventories are about 2% below their five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline inventories were seen increasing by 100,000 barrels in the Journal survey.

Distillate stocks, mostly diesel fuel, rose to 115.8 million barrels from just over 115 million, in line with the expected stock build of 700,000 barrels.

 
 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Dec. 15: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:          -7.1          -0.7            0.7                 +0.9 
Forecast:          -2.4           0.1            0.7                 unch 
 

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 28, 2023 12:36 ET (17:36 GMT)