By Anthony Harrup


U.S. crude oil inventories fell for a ninth consecutive week, reaching their lowest level in almost three years, while gasoline stocks continued to build, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 1 million barrels to 411.7 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 17, and were about 6% 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 fall by 500,000 barrels.

Oil held in the SPR rose by 249,000 barrels to 394.6 million barrels. Stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were down by 148,000 barrels at 20.7 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.5 million barrels a day, practically unchanged from the week before. Crude imports rose by 621,000 barrels a day to 6.7 million barrels a day, and exports were up by 437,000 barrels a day at 4.5 million barrels a day.

Refinery capacity use fell to 85.9% from 91.7% the week before. Refinery runs were forecast to fall by 1 percentage point in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories rose by 2.3 million barrels to 245.9 million barrels and were 1% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand was 8.1 million barrels a day, down by 239,000 barrels a day from the week before. Gasoline stocks were forecast to have risen by 1.9 million barrels.

Distillate fuel stocks fell by 3.1 million barrels to 128.9 million barrels, against expectations of a 300,000 barrel increase, and were 6% below the five-year average. Demand for distillate fuels rose by 269,000 barrels a day to 4.1 million barrels a day.


 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Jan. 17: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:          -1.0           2.3           -3.1                 -5.8 
Forecast:          -0.5           1.9            0.3                 -1.0 
 

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

01-23-25 1240ET