By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude oil inventories increased sharply last week as production recovered from winter storm disruptions and imports rose, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 8.5 million barrels to 428.8 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 6 and were about 3% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Crude stocks were expected to have fallen by 400,000 barrels, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.

Oil stored in the SPR was unchanged at 415.2 million barrels. Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, rose by 1.1 million barrels to 25.1 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.7 million barrels a day, up by 498,000 barrels a day from the previous week when freeze-offs during winter storm Fern shut in output. Crude oil imports rose by 604,000 barrels a day to 6.8 million barrels a day, and exports were down by 308,000 barrels a day at 3.7 million barrels a day.

Refineries ran at 89.4% of capacity, down from 90.5% the week before, with crude input to refineries down by 29,000 barrels a day at 16 million barrels a day. Refinery runs were forecast to have fallen by 0.3 of a percentage point in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels to 259.1 million barrels and were 4% above the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand increased by 147,000 barrels a day to 8.3 million barrels a day. Gasoline stocks were expected to have risen by 300,000 barrels.

Distillate fuel stocks fell by 2.7 million barrels to 124.7 million barrels, compared with expectations for a 2.1 million barrel decline, and were about 4% below the five-year average.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Feb. 6: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates        Refinery Use 
EIA data:           8.5           1.2           -2.7                -1.1 
Forecast:          -0.4           0.3           -2.1                -0.3 
 

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

February 11, 2026 10:53 ET (15:53 GMT)

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