US crude oil inventories fall for fourth straight week

The month-long drawdown in crude stocks has surprised some analysts after a massive 14-million-barrel storm-related drop in inventories at the beginning of September.

“The report is bullish given the crude oil and distillate category inventory declines. The low imports continue to drag down overall crude inventories, defying expectations of a strong rebound,” said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital.

Inventories were expected to rebound after the big drop a few weeks ago, but instead stocks have continued to decline with imports. U.S. crude imports fell last week by 393,000 barrels per day.

The biggest crude drawdown last week was on the U.S. East Coast, where stocks plummeted 3.3 million barrels, also its biggest weekly crude draw since May 2004, the data showed.

Stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures fell 631,000 barrels, EIA said.

Crude prices initially rallied on the news, but then fell back. U.S. crude was last down 0.1 percent at $44.63 a barrel after briefly touching $45.79 a barrel. Brent crude was up 0.1 percent to $46.03 a barrel.

Refinery crude runs fell 253,000 bpd and utilization rates dropped 1.9 percentage points to 90.1 percent of total capacity, EIA data showed.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell 1.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 14,000-barrel decline.
Gasoline stocks rose 2.0 million barrels, compared with expectations for a gain of 178,000 barrels, the EIA data showed.