US crude stocks fall less than expected

The US Energy Information Administration said that crude stocks fell by 240 thousand barrels to 432.9 million barrels in the week ending December 3, and analysts had expected that crude stocks would decline to 1.7 million barrels.

The Energy Information Administration stated that the flows of crude oil refineries rose by 154 thousand barrels per day last week, and the utilization rates of the refineries rose by one percentage point per week to reach 89.8% of the total capacity. US gasoline stocks rose by 3.9 million barrels per week, and distillate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.7 million barrels, and US production rose to 11.7 million barrels per day, the highest level since May of last year.