By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude oil inventories rose for the first time in six weeks as imports increased and exports fell sharply from the week before, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve were up by 3.8 million barrels at 419 million barrels in the week ended June 27, and were about 9% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by 1.7 million barrels.

Oil stored in the SPR rose by 239,000 barrels to 402.8 million barrels. Stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were down by 1.5 million barrels at 20.7 million barrels.

Crude imports increased by 976,000 barrels a day to 6.9 million barrels, while exports fell by almost 2 million barrels a day to 2.3 million barrels a day. The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.4 million barrels a day, virtually unchanged from the prior week.

Refinery capacity use edged up by 0.2 of a percentage point to 94.9%, with crude oil input to refineries increasing by 118,000 barrels a day to 17.1 million barrels a day. Refinery runs were forecast to have risen by 0.4 of a percentage point in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories rose by 4.2 million barrels to 232.1 million barrels versus expectations of a half million barrel decline, and were 1% below the five-year average. Gasoline demand was 8.6 million barrels a day compared with 9.7 million barrels a day the previous week.

Distillate fuel stocks fell by 1.7 million barrels to 103.6 million barrels, and were 21% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Distillate stocks were seen falling by 1.5 million barrels.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended June 27: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:           3.8           4.2           -1.7                  0.2 
Forecast:          -1.7          -0.5           -1.5                  0.4 
 

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 02, 2025 10:53 ET (14:53 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.