US crude oil stocks fall to seven-month low

Oil

US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 8M bbls w-o-w to 484.4M bbls during the week ending October 30, falling to the lowest level since the week ending April 3, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). This is still an increase of 37.6M bbls y-o-y however, with stocks remaining at around 7% above the five-year average for this time of year. Crude oil exports plummeted by 1.2M b/d w-o-w to 2.27M b/d after previously increasing for the past two weeks, with imports also falling by 630K b/d w-o-w and 1.05M b/d y-o-y to 5.03M b/d. Refinery throughputs increased by 160K b/d w-o-w to 13.6M b/d, with refinery utilisation also rising by 0.7% w-o-w to average 75.3%, the highest since the week ending October 2.