U.S. Oil and Fuel Inventories Decline Sharply

U.S. inventories of crude oil and gasoline each decreased more than expected for the week ended Oct. 27, according to data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.

Crude-oil stockpiles fell by 2.4 million barrels to 454.9 million barrels but are still in the upper half of the average range for this time of year, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude supplies would fall by 1.2 million barrels on the week.

Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S. stocks, increased by 90,000 barrels to 63.8 million barrels, the EIA said in its weekly report.

Gasoline stockpiles fell 4 million barrels to 212.8 million barrels, while analysts in the survey were expecting levels to fall by 1.8 million barrels from the previous week.

Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, decreased by 320,000 barrels to 128.9 million barrels and remain in the lower half of the average range, the EIA said. Earlier in the week, analysts had forecast supplies would fall by 2.3 million barrels from a week earlier.

Refining capacity utilization increased by 0.3 percentage points from the previous week to 88.1%. Analysts were expecting the rate to rise by 0.7 percentage points.

U.S. oil inventories for week ended Oct. 27:

Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use

EIA data: -2.4 -4.0 -0.3 +0.3

Forecast: -1.2 -1.8 -2.3 +0.7

Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 01, 2017 11:12 ET (15:12 GMT)