WTI crude oil futures slip after unexpected stockpile build

US crude oil stockpiles registered an unexpected build last week as net imports rose sharply and rates of refinery use dipped.

Net imports jumped by 1.363m barrels a day over the week ending on 22 June, helped by a 664,000 b/d drop in exports, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Domestic oil output meanwhile was unchanged at 10.90m b/d.

In parallel, refineries' operated at 97.1% of their capacity last week, down from slightly from the prior week, which had marked a record-high.

As a result, commercial inventories of crude increased by 1.2m barrels a day over the week (consensus: -3.5m) to stand at 417.9m barrels, with those of distillates increasing by 0.1m b/d, although gasoline stockpiles were run down by by 1.5m b/d.

In response to the data, as of 1819 BST September Brent crude oil futures on ICE were down by 0.346% to $77.97 a barrel, alongside a 1.41% decline in August WTI to $73.30 a barrel.

Thomas Pugh at Capital Economics attributed the rise in net imports to the "dramatic" reduction seen in the WTI-Brent spread, although he expressed surprise at the higher purchases of Canadian oil, given the continued outage of a Syncrude facility there.

Despite Thursday's data, commercial US crude oil stockpiles were 2% below their five-year average for that time of year, although those of gasoline were ahead by 6%.

Pugh also noted how "inventories at the key pricing point of Cushing, Oklahoma, fell further and are at their lowest level since late 2014. Low stocks at Cushing are likely to prevent WTI prices from dropping too far below the price of Brent."