US crude oil stocks build amid refinery slowdown, export surge

摘要

US crude stocks showed a larger-than-expected build last week amid a sharp decline in refinery demand and continued strong exports, US Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday. Total US crude inventories expanded 3.54 million barrels to 431.65 million barrels during the week ended January 24, EIA data showed. Analysts surveyed in an S&P Global Platts analysis Monday had called for a 1.4 million-barrel build during the same period. Refinery utilization fell 3.3 points to 87.2% of total capacity last week, the weakest run rate since late October, and net crude inputs slipped 930,000 b/d to 15.92 million b/d. Seasonal refinery maintenance typically adds upward pressure to crude inventories during this time of year, but stronger than normal refinery demand has disrupted this trend in recent weeks. Net crude inputs were still around 0.4% above normal last week, even after the sharp pullback. During the week prior net inputs were almost 4.5% above normal.