January 03, 2025 [Reuters]- U.S. crude stocks fell while gasoline and distillate inventories rose sharply as demand weakened in the week ending December 27, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday.

Crude inventories fell by 1.2 million barrels to 415.6 million barrels last week, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.8 million-barrel draw.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 142,000 barrels last week, the EIA said.

Global Brent crude futures were trading at $76.25 a barrel, up $1.61 a barrel at 11:33 a.m. EST (1633 GMT), and U.S. West Texas Intermediate was at $73.45 a barrel, up $1.73.

U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 7.7 million barrels in the week to 231.4 million barrels, the EIA said, far surpassing analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.3 million-barrel build.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 6.4 million barrels in the week to 122.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 0.1 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.

“A post-holiday hangover for product demand has combined with strong refining activity to result in whopping builds for gasoline and distillates to finish the year,” said Matt Smith, an analyst for ship-tracking firm Kpler.

Product-supplied, a proxy for demand, fell by 3.3 million bpd to 18.5 million bpd, its largest weekly decline since December 2022. Product-supplied sank to its lowest level since January 2023.

Both distillate and gasoline stocks posted their largest weekly builds in almost a year.

Gasoline futures pared gains following the larger-than-expected build.

Refinery crude runs rose by 41,000 barrels per day (bpd), and utilization rates rose by 0.2 percentage points in the week to 92.7%, according to the EIA.

Net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 323,000 barrels per day, EIA said.

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