July 19 (Reuters) - U.S. crude inventories fell last week, supported by a jump in crude exports as well as higher refinery utilization, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
Sales of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) ended in the last week of June, tightening the market for crude oil globally.
Inventories at the critical Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub, drew down 2.9 million barrels in the week ending July 14, EIA said, as net U.S. crude exports rose by 1.67 million barrels per day to 3.81 million bpd.
Crude inventories fell by 708,000 barrels in the last week to 457.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a drop of 2.4 million barrels, the EIA data showed.
"Now that the sales from the SPR have ended, inventories are going to depend on refining runs as well as imports," said Andrew Lipow, president at Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.
Refinery utilization rates rose by six-tenths of a percentage point in the week, while refinery crude runs were down by 74,000 barrels per day in the last week, EIA said.
Fuel stocks drew or remained stagnant week on week amid stronger demand for gasoline.
Gasoline product supplied, a proxy for demand, rose by about 100,000 bpd while distillate product supplied jumped by about 700,000 barrels per day, the EIA data showed.
U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 1.1 million barrels in the week to 218.4 million barrels, the EIA said, while distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by only 14,000 barrels in the week to 118.2 million barrels.
"Given that refinery runs have increased and utilization is higher than it was a year ago, we’re seeing little change in gasoline and diesel inventories as refiners are able to meet the demand," Lipow said. (Reporting by Laura Sanicola; Editing by Paul Simao and Deepa Babington)
