By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude-oil stocks fell more than expected last week and gasoline inventories declined, while refineries increased their capacity use, according to data released Thursday by the Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude-oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell to 436.6 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 22 from 443.7 million barrels the previous week, and were about 1% 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 decrease by 2.4 million barrels.

Storage in the SPR rose by 793,000 barrels to 353.3 million barrels, the EIA said.

Crude futures, which were lower Thursday on easing concerns about shipping disruptions in the Red Sea, extended losses following the EIA report. The Nymex crude contract for February was down 2.4% at $72.34 a barrel and international benchmark Brent for March was down 2.3% at $77.70. February Brent, which expires Thursday, was off 1.5% at $78.48.

What should have been a bullish report for oil was offset by another build in crude stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery point, said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president at BOK Financial.

"Seasonally, prices move lower this time of year, but normally we see some winter demand pick up into January and that's lagging," he said. "The demand for winter fuels is not showing up, and that's causing pressure on the crude."

Oil stored at Cushing rose by 1.5 million barrels to 34 million barrels as refineries increased their capacity use to 93.3% from 92.4% the week before, the EIA said. Expectations were for refinery runs to be unchanged from the previous week.

Gasoline stockpiles fell to 226.1 million barrels from 226.7 million a week earlier, the EIA said. Gasoline inventories are about 2% below their five-year average, it said. Gasoline inventories were seen increasing by 100,000 barrels in the WSJ survey. Gasoline demand measured by product supplied rose to 9.2 million barrels a day from 8.8 million the week before.

Distillate stocks, mostly diesel fuel, rose to 115.8 million barrels from just over 115 million, in line with the expected stock build of 700,000 barrels.

U.S. crude-oil production held steady at a record 13.3 million barrels a day. Crude-oil exports fell by 206,000 barrels a day to 3.9 million barrels a day, and imports fell to 6.3 million barrels a day from 6.8 million the previous week, the EIA said.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Dec. 15: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:          -7.1          -0.7            0.7               +0.9 
Forecast:          -2.4           0.1            0.7               unch 
 

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

December 28, 2023 13:45 ET (18:45 GMT)