US gasoline and distillate prices decline

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that crude oil inventories in the United States rose, while gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week. It reported that crude oil stocks increased by 95,000 barrels to 428.9 million barrels in the week ending August 21, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a rise of 597,000 barrels. It added that crude oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma distribution hub rose by 1.2 million barrels during the week. Futures contracts for oil pared back earlier losses after the inventory increase came in below expectations. The EIA said that refinery crude input fell by 2,000 barrels per day during the week, while refinery utilization rates rose by 0.2 percentage points to 97.4%. It also said that U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels during the week to 206.8 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a decline of 0.7 million barrels.