US crude oil stocks fall

Oil

US commercial crude oil inventories declined by 3.1M bbls w-o-w to 500.1M bbls during the week ending December 11, falling from a near four-month high as stocks surged by the largest weekly amount since mid-April during the previous week, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). This is an increase of 53.3M bbls (or 11.9%) y-o-y, with inventories remaining at around 10% above the five-year average for this time of year. Crude oil imports tumbled by 1.06M b/d w-o-w and 1.16M b/d y-o-y to 5.42M b/d, whereas exports increased by 790K b/d w-o-w to 2.63M b/d. Refinery throughputs decreased by 250K b/d w-o-w and 2.38M b/d y-o-y to 14.18M b/d, with refinery utilisation also falling by 0.8% w-o-w to average 79.1%.