WTI dips after US DoE reports 5.0m b/d stockpile increase

US oil product stockpiles shrank at an accelerated rate last week, amid a small increase in the rate of refinery use.

Over the week ending on 9 March, commercial crude oil inventories rose by 5.0m barrels to reach 430.9m barrels.

That was roughly twice the increase forecast by analysts.

Similarly, domestic US oil output edged higher by 12,000 b/d last week to reach 10.381m b/d, the Energy Information Administration, the Department of Energy's statistical arm, said in a separate report.

Gasoline inventories on the other hand plummeted by 6.3m barrels, while those for distillate fuels declined by 4.4m barrels.

Meanwhile, refineries operated at 90.0% of their operating capacity, the EIA also said.

In parallel, imports fell by 418,000 b/d from the previous week to an average of 7.6m b/d last week.

Exports were also lower, slipping by 11,000 b/d to 1.487m b/d.

Following the release of Wednesday's report, as of 1431 GMT front month West Texas Intermediate futures for next month delivery were lower by 0.09% to $60.70 a barrel.