By Anthony Harrup


U.S. crude oil inventories rose last week as imports picked up from the week before and exports declined, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased by 1.9 million barrels to 465.7 million barrels in the week ended April 17, and were about 3% above the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Crude stocks were expected to have fallen by 1 million barrels, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.

Oil stored in the SPR dropped by 4.1 million barrels to 405 million barrels as the Department of Energy continued releasing stocks in response to supply disruptions in the Middle East. Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were up by 806,000 barrels at 30.6 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.6 million barrels a day, little changed from the previous week. Crude oil imports rose by 787,000 barrels a day to 6.1 million barrels a day, while exports fell by 427,000 barrels a day to 4.8 million barrels a day.

Refineries ran at 89.1% of capacity, down from 89.6% the previous week, with crude input to refineries off by 55,000 barrels a day at 16 million barrels a day. Refinery runs were forecast to have risen by 0.8 of a percentage point in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories were down by 4.6 million barrels at 228.4 million barrels and were 0.5% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand held steady near 9.1 million barrels a day. Gasoline stocks were expected to have fallen by 1.4 million barrels.

Distillate fuel stocks fell by 3.4 million barrels to 108.1 million barrels against expectations of a 1.5-million-barrel draw, and were 8% below the five-year average for the time of year. 


 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended April 17: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates        Refinery Use 
EIA data:           1.9          -4.6           -3.4                -0.5 
Forecast:          -1.0          -1.4           -1.5                 0.8

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

04-22-26 1104ET