U.S. crude oil inventories fell less than expected last week, while stocks of gasoline and distillate fuels both seeing large builds with refineries maintaining high capacity use, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Commercial crude oil stocks, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 1.2 million barrels to 415.6 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 27 and were about 5% below the five-year average for the time of year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Thursday.
Analysts previously surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by 2.4 million barrels.
The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.6 million barrels a day, 12,000 barrels a day less than the previous week.
