US Oil Stockpiles Unexpectedly Up 3.78 Million Barrels

The Financial Post reported that crude oil stockpiles in the United States — not including Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil — unexpectedly rose to 364.52 million barrels last week, an increase of 3.78 million barrels. The jump was caused by increased oil imports and unchanged crude usage.

As quoted in the market news:

Refinery utilization was unchanged at 91.2 percent of capacity. Analysts had forecast a drop of 0.4 percentage point. Imports of crude rose by 1.29 million barrels per day to 9.46 million bpd.

Analysts said that import shipments should decline this week, however, after ports were shuttered to brace for incoming Hurricane Isaac, with terminals including the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) temporarily suspending tanker operations.

Click here to read the full Financial Post report.