— Matt Smith, ClipperData
US crude oil inventories rose unexpectedly last week amid lower refinery runs and exports. The Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that US crude stockpiles climbed 3.3M barrels in the week ended June 2, following the preceding week's drop of 6.4M barrels. Meanwhile, market analysts anticipated a 3.1M-barrel decline during the reported week. The 3.3M-barrel build in US commercial oil inventories marked the first increase in 10 weeks and raised concerns over the effectiveness of the OPEC production cut agreement. Following the release, WTI futures dropped more than 4% to trade at $46.12 per barrel. Refinery crude runs plunged 283K barrels per day to 17.2M bpd, compared to the prior week's 17.5M-bpd rate. The refinery utilisation rate dropped 0.9% to 94.1%. Crude stockpiles at the Cushing oil hub in Oklahoma fell 1.4M barrels last week. Exports dropped to 557K bpd from the previous week's 1.3M bpd, whereas crude imports advanced 1.1M bpd. Distillate inventories climbed 4.4M barrels, topping expectations for a 281K-barrel gain.
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