US oil inventories rise but product stocks drop, EIA says

US oil inventories rose in the latest week, even as product stockpiles registered large drops, official data showed.

Commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.3m barrels to 541.3m barrels in the week to 13 May, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the US Department of Energy's statistical arm, said

Crude prices dipped briefly, but by 16:01 BST, West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.66% to $48.63 a barrel, and Brent was ahead 0.51% to $49.53 a barrel.

The EIA noted it was a historically high level for that time of year.

City Index market analyst Fawad Razaqzada said the inventories data clearly wrong-footed many speculators who had expected to see another drawdown following last week’s 3.41m barrel decrease in US oil stocks.

Total motor gasoline inventories fell 2.5m barrels during the week, EIA said. Propane/propylene inventories firmed 1.0m barrels. Both total motor gasoline and propane/propylene inventories remained well above the upper limit of the average range, EIA said.

Distillate fuel inventories shed 3.2m barrels and are well above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Total commercial petroleum inventories fell 0.7m barrels last week.

For the week ending on 13 May, daily US oil imports rose by 22,000 barrels, with refineries operating at 90.5% of their operable capacity.