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United States crude and gas stockpiles fall as refining ramps up - EIA

U.S. petroleum stockpiles fell all of a sudden last week as exports increased and refiners continued to increase activity, while gas inventories decreased more than expected, the Energy Info Administration (EIA) stated on Wednesday.

Crude inventories fell for the second week in a row, coming by 2 million barrels to 445 million barrels in the week ended March 15, the EIA stated, compared with experts' expectations in a poll for a 13,000-barrel increase.

Gas stocks continued a seventh straight week of drawdowns, falling by 3.3 million barrels to 230.8 million barrels, the EIA stated. Analysts had forecasted a 1.3 million-barrel draw.

On the Gulf Coast, gasoline in storage fell by 1.82 million barrels to 76.58 million barrels, the lowest in three years, EIA data shows.

Oil futures broadly extended their losses after the report with Brent crude down $1.45, or 1.7%, at $85.93. a barrel by 11:19 a.m. EST (1519 GMT) and U.S. crude. $ 1.77, or 2.1%, lower at $81.70 per barrel.

Despite the falling inventories, oil rates extended losses. partially due to weaker gas demand, stated Bob Yawger, director. of energy futures at Mizuho.

The rally we've seen in the previous couple of weeks has actually been. partly due to the fact that of gas however those fundamentals aren't. quite as strong, Yawger stated.

Ended up motor gasoline provided, which represents demand,. fell 235,000 barrels per day to 8.8 million bpd, which is the. Time in 3 weeks it has actually dropped listed below 9 million bpd.

Crude oil exports rose last week by 1.7 million bpd to 4.8. million bpd, leading to net U.S. crude imports. falling by 947,000 bpd.

Refiners have actually begun to ramp up activity in about the last. month after serious winter weather condition and outages affected. processing rates. Refinery unrefined runs increased by. 127,000 bpd and refinery utilization rates acquired 1. percentage point in the week to 87.8% of total capacity. Extract stockpiles, that include diesel and. heating oil, rose by 624,000 barrels to 118.5 million barrels,. versus expectations for an 87,000 drop, EIA data showed.