U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories soared to record highs last week as refineries cut output and gasoline demand softened, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Feb. 15.
Crude inventories rose 9.5 million barrels (MMbbl) in the week ended Feb. 10, nearly three times more than analysts' expectations, boosting stocks—not including the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve—to an all-time record at 518 MMbbl.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla., delivery hub for U.S. crude futures fell by 702,000 bbl and U.S. crude imports by 1.34 MMbbl/d, the EIA said.
Benchmark U.S. crude futures initially weakened after the data before rebounding, continuing a recent pattern where initially bearish news results in a rally.
By 9:59 a.m. CT (15:59 GMT), West Texas Intermediate was trading 19 cents firmer at $53.39/bbl. Brent crude was up 17 cents to $56.14/bbl.
"Although this is another bearish report, we're likely to see buying interest this afternoon only to sell off later in the week as has been the case for many weeks now," said Troy Vincent, oil analyst at ClipperData in Louisville, Ky.
Gasoline stocks rose 2.8 MMbbl, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 752,000-bbl drop. That pushed inventories of the fuel to a record at 259 MMbbl.
Inventories of gasoline have surged by 10% since the end of 2016, EIA data showed.
Overall demand for gasoline in the last four weeks was down 5.3% year-on-year at 8.43 MMbbl/d.
Despite the bearish data, U.S. gasoline futures were also firmer, rising 0.65% to $1.5569 a gallon.
Refinery crude runs fell 435,000 bbl/d as utilization rates fell 2.3 percentage points to 85.4% of nationwide refining capacity, EIA data showed.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell 689,000 bbl, in line with forecasts, the EIA data showed.
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