Crude inventories fell by 2 million barrels to 412.7 million barrels in the week ending Jan. 10, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 992,000-barrel draw.
Net U.S. crude imports (USOICI=ECI), opens new tab fell by 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), EIA said, to 2.05 million bpd. And weekly crude exports were up 1 million bpd to 4.08 million bpd.
"The crude oil draw was largely on import-export dynamics," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho
"The exports are hard to believe, since the WTI/Brent spread was stronger than $3.50 a barrel and all of this happened before the Biden administration's sanctions on Russia," he added.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub (USOICC=ECI), opens new tab rose by 765,000 barrels.
"The Cushing build should help with the extreme backwardation. Grim situation but less grim than last week." said Mizuho's Yawger.
Brent, U.S. crude futures initially pared gains following the report, then rebounded with Brent futures up $2.28 to $82.20 at 2:44 p.m. EST, while US crude futures were up $2.75 to $80.25.
Refinery crude runs (USOICR=ECI), opens new tab fell by 255,000 bpd in the week, the EIA said.
Refinery utilization rates (USOIRU=ECI), opens new tab fell by 1.6 percentage points 91.7%.
U.S. gasoline stocks (USOILG=ECI), opens new tab rose by 5.9 million barrels in the week to 243.6 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations for a 2 million-barrel build.
U.S. gasoline futures pared gains after the larger-than-expected build in gasoline stocks.
Gasoline supplied, a proxy for demand, fell to 8.33 million bpd last week, down from 8.48 million bpd.
Distillate stockpiles (USOILD=ECI), opens new tab, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 3.1 million barrels to 132 million barrels, their highest since January 2024 and surpassing expectations for an 800,000-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.
U.S. heating oil futures extended gains despite the larger-than-expected build in distillate stocks.
"A bullish oil draw, a bearish products build, overall looks pretty good for oil bulls considering seasonality," said Josh Young, chief investment officer at Bison Interests.
"It is not surprising oil has recovered from the high $60s to the high $70s over the past few weeks. Unless some new supply comes on, or demand falls a lot, prices could be a lot higher this summer," he added.
