Weekly US gasoline stockpiles jump sharply, oil slumps

US crude stockpiles fell sharply in the latest reference week, according to fresh estimates from the Energy Information Administration, but those of distillates and gasoline easily dwarfed that contraction.

Commercial crude oil inventories dropped by 5.1m barrels in the week ending 1 January, the US Department of Energy's statistical arm said in a report.

However, distillate and gasoline supplies registered increases of 6.3m and 10.6m each, respectively.

The increase in the latter marked the steepest rise since May 1993.

During the reference period crude oil imports fell by 382,000 barrels per day in comparison to the prior week.

Refineries operated at 92.5% of their capacity last week.