Crude futures moved lower Wednesday even after the Energy Information Administration released new oil inventory figures that showed a larger-than expected drop in gasoline stores.
West Texas crude for June delivery was recently down $1.15 at $124.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude tumbled $1.81 to $122.49 a barrel.
Heating oil was down 5 cents at $3.65 a gallon, and reformulated gasoline shed a penny to $3.19 a gallon. Near-term natural gas was recently trading 23 cents higher at $11.65 per million British thermal units.
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The EIA's weekly inventory report did little to move energy markets. Crude stores grew by 176,000 barrels during the week ended May 14, whereas aanalysts were expecting a 2.25 million-barrel build, according to
Bloomberg. Distillate inventories increased by 1.34 million barrels, topping the 1 million-barrel expansion that was expected. Gasoline inventories fell by 1.72 million barrels, vs. the 220,000-barrel build that analysts were predicting.
The data suggest that refineries are finally coming out of their spring slumber and increasing throughput capacity. Refinery utilization grew by 1.6 percentage points to 86.6% during the week. Crude inputs into U.S. refineries jumped by 405,000 barrels a day from the previous week.
Meanwhile, energy stocks were mostly higher, following the broader market.
BP (BP) rose 1.3% to $72.52, and
ConocoPhillips (COP) was up 0.9% at $89.38.
Exxon Mobil (XOM) climbed 1.2% to $90.72.
Among services firms,
Halliburton (HAL) was down 0.3% at $48.73, and
Transocean (RIG) was 1.6% higher at $151.30.
The
United States Oil (USO) and the
iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index (OIL) exchange-traded funds were down around 1%.
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