* Crude stocks fall 4.16 million barrels
* Distillate inventories rise 1.15 million barrels
* Gasoline stockpiles rise 3.29 million barrels
* Cushing inventories up 858,000 barrels
NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) – U.S. crude inventories fell more than expected in the final week of 2010 and refined
product stocks rose, according to a weekly report from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
Domestic crude stocks fell 4.16 million barrels to 335.27 million barrels in the week to Dec. 31, the report showed,
against expectations for a 1.8 million-barrel draw.
Over the past five weeks, U.S. crude inventories have fallen by more than 24 million barrels, their biggest five-week
decline since mid-2008. U.S. oil companies traditionally reduce their crude inventories at the end of the year for tax
purposes. Stocks of gasoline rose by 3.29 million barrels to 218.15 million barrels, after analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 300,000-barrel rise.
Distillate stocks rose 1.15 million barrels, compared with analyst expectations for a 400,000-barrel rise.
EIA data showed that U.S. crude imports fell last week by 367,000 to 8.41 million barrels a day. Refinery utilization rose by 0.2 percentage points to 88 percent. Analysts had forecast 0.1 percentage point drop. Inventories at the key Cushing, Oklahoma, hub rose by 858,000 barrels to 37.49 million barrels. Cushing is the delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange’s benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures. U.S. oil futures, which were trading down 74 cents a barrel before the EIA data, fell by 88 cents to $88.50 a barrel at 10:38 a.m. EST (1538 GMT).
Oil industry group American Petroleum Institute, in its own weekly data report released on Tuesday, said domestic crude stocks fell by a larger 7.5 million barrels last week, while distillate inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels and gasoline inventories rose by 5.6 million barrels.
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