US crude inventories again moved higher last week as shoulderseason turnaround work blunted refinery demand, US Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday. Commercial crude inventories increased 3.36 million barrels during the week ended January 31 to 435.01 million barrels, according to EIA data. Despite building for a second straight week, nationwide crude inventories tightened compared with historic levels, continuing a trend that has persisted since late-December. Last week, stocks were at a 2.3% deficit to the five-year average, down from a 1.7% deficit the week prior. The crude build was concentrated on the US Gulf Coast, where stocks moved 4.92 million barrels higher to 226.52 million barrels. Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point of the NYMEX crude contract, were up 1.07 million barrels at 36.71 million barrels Refinery utilization ticked up 0.2 percentage point to 87.4% of capacity, pulling net crude inputs up 50,000 b/d to 15.97 million b/d.
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