The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced on Wednesday
that crude inventories surged by 5.810 million
barrels in the week ended October 4, following a jump of 3.889 million barrels
in the previous week. This
represented the strongest
weekly gain in the U.S. crude inventories since
the week that ended April 26 (+7.265 million barrels). Economists had anticipated a build
of 2.000 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks plunged by 6.304 million barrels, the most since the week ended March
17, 2023 (-6.40 million barrels). Analysts had forecast a drop of 1.100 million barrels. The previous week posted a
climb of 1.119 million barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks tumbled by 3.124 million barrels., the most since the week
ended August 16 (-3.31 million barrels). Analysts
had predicted a decrease of 1.750 million barrels. The previous week recorded a
decline of 1.284 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. increased by 100,000 barrels a day to 13.400 million
barrels per day. This was
the highest output in seven weeks.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 6.2 million barrels per day last week,
logging a fall of 389,000 barrels per day from the week before.