US crude stocks decline, gasoline inventories rise

Shafaq News/ The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported, on Thursday, that crude oil and distillate inventories in the United States decreased, while gasoline stocks rose in the week ending January 17.

The EIA stated that crude oil inventories fell by 1 million barrels to 411.7 million barrels last week, compared to analysts' expectations in a Reuters survey, which had forecast a decline of 1.6 million barrels.

The administration also mentioned that crude oil stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub dropped by approximately 148,000 barrels.

Futures for crude oil continued to decline after the data showed a smaller-than-expected drop.

Brent crude was trading at $78.30 per barrel, down by 70 cents, as of 12:13 p.m. Eastern Time (1713 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped by 66 cents to $74.79 per barrel.

Refinery crude oil consumption fell by 1.1 million barrels per day, while refinery utilization rates declined by 5.8 percentage points during the same week.