By David Gaffen
(Reuters) - U.S. crude oil stockpiles surprisingly fell last week, including at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub, the first time supply has dropped since the coronavirus pandemic choked off fuel demand in the in the United States.
Crude inventories
Stocks in Cushing
Crude oil production dropped 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 11.6 million bpd, its lowest since December 2018.
Fuel demand rebounded in the most recent week, though over the past four weeks still remains 23% below the year-ago average.
"The pretty desperate picture we've seen because of the drop in demand, maybe we are seeing signs it's beginning to thaw," said Gene McGillian, vice president of market research at Tradition Energy.
"The market should take some heart from the numbers but we need to see more than one week of data."
Oil prices rallied briefly before returning to levels seen prior to the report. U.S. crude (CLc1) futures were down 37 cents, or 1.4%, to $25.40 a barrel while Brent (LCOc1) dropped 1.5%, or 48 cents, to $29.52 a barrel.
Net U.S. crude imports
Refinery crude runs
U.S. gasoline stocks
Distillate stockpiles