Investing.com -- U.S. crude stockpiles rose last week, bucking expectations for a draw, while fuel demand expanded, petroleum industry group API said Tuesday as oil bulls counted on a pick up in energy demand ahead of the typical summer surge in road, air and seaborne travel.
The U.S. crude inventory balance rose by 3.69 million barrels during the week ended May 12, according to the API, or American Petroleum Institute. The petroleum industry group had reported a draw of 1.3M barrels in the prior week to May 5.
The net build in crude stockpiles aside, the API noted a 2.87M barrel build at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for U.S. crude. It had previously cited a draw of 1.316M for Cushing during the week ended May 5.
On the fuel side, API reported a gasoline inventory draw of 2.46M barrels and a distillate stock drop of 886,000 barrels. In the previous week, it noted a 0.4M barrel build for gasoline and 3.945M drop for distillates.
The API data serves as a precursor to official inventory data on the same due from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, on Wednesday.
For last week, analysts tracked by Investing.com expect the EIA to report a crude stockpile drop of 0.920M barrels, versus the 2.951M barrel rise reported during the week to May 5.
On the gasoline inventory front, the consensus is for a draw of 1.060M barrels over the 3.168M-barrel decline in the previous week. Automotive fuel gasoline is the No. 1 U.S. fuel product.
With distillate stockpiles, the expectation is for a build of 0.057M barrels versus the prior week’s deficit of 4.170M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships and fuel for jets.