The report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that total crude oil and petroleum products (ex. SPR) stocks slumped -1891 mmb to 1184.59 mmb in the week ended December 24. Crude oil inventory dropped -3.58 mmb to 420 mmb, compared with consensus of a +3.09 mmb increase. Inventory decreased in 3 out of 5 PADDs. PADD 3 (Gulf Coast) alone saw inventory draw of -4.3 mmb. Cushing stock added +1.06 mmb to 34.73. Utilization rate stayed added +0.1 ppt to 89.7% while crude production added +0.2 mmb to 11.8M bpd for the week. Crude oil imports increased +0.57M bpd to 6.76M bpd in the week.

Concerning refined oil product inventories, gasoline inventory dropped -1.46 mmb to 222.66 mmb while demand gained +8.21% to 9.72M bpd. The market had anticipated a +0.49 mmb growth in stockpile. Production added +1.72% to 10.11M bpd while imports plunged -37.21 % to 0.43M bpd during the week. Distillate stockpile fell -1.73 mmb to 122.43 mmb. The market had anticipated a +0.18 mmb increase. Demand rose +5.99% to 4.05M bpd. Imports dropped -20.2% to 0.16 mmb while production added +1.71% to 4.94M bpd during the week.

A day earlier, the industry-sponsored API estimated that crude oil inventory fell -3.09 mmb. Gasoline stockpile slipped -0.32 mmb, while that for distillate was down -0.72 mmb.