U.S. crude oil and distillate inventories fell last week, gasoline rose, EIA says

A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas.

U.S. crude stocks and distillate inventories fell while gasoline inventories rose in the week ending Jan. 30, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories fell by 3.5 million barrels to 420.3 million barrels last week, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 489,000-barrel rise.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 743,000 barrels in the past week, the EIA said.

Refinery crude runs fell by 180,000 barrels per day, and refinery utilization rates USOIRU=ECI fell by 0.4 percentage points last week to 90.5 per cent, EIA said.

U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 0.7 million barrels in the week to 257.9 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.4 million-barrel build.​

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 5.6 million barrels in the week to 127.4 million barrels, versus expectations for a 2.3 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.

Net U.S. crude imports rose by 1.1 million barrels per day, the EIA said.

(Reporting by Shariq Khan in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )