US Oil Stockpiles Rise, Products Draw down Sharply

U.S. crude stocks rose less than expected last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories fell more sharply than forecast, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday.

Crude inventories rose 2.1 million barrels last week, less than the 3.4-million-barrel increase expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Gasoline stockpiles fell 1.2 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations for a 1-million-barrel drop. Distillate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 5.3 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.2-million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.

"The report was fairly bullish due to the steep decline in distillate fuels. The gasoline drawdown was also supportive," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

"The build in crude oil inventories was not sufficient to counteract the weight of the refined product drawdowns."

U.S. and Brent crude prices slightly extended gains after the report, with U.S. crude up 87 cents at $82.29 a barrel by 10:48 a.m. EDT (1448 GMT).

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 776,000 barrels, EIA said.

Refinery crude runs fell 79,000 barrels per day, EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates fell by 0.1 percentage point to 86.6 percent of total capacity.

U.S. crude imports fell 367,000 bpd.

(Reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault, Edward McAllister, Robert Gibbons and Barani Krishnan; Editing by Marguerita Choy)