By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com -- Stockpiles of U.S. crude oil rose some 47% more than expected last week while those distillates had a much larger draw than forecast, weekly inventory from the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, showed Thursday.
Crude stockpiles saw a build of 1.694 million barrels during the week ended Dec. 30, the EIA said, versus expectations for a rise of 1.154 M. In the previous week to Dec. 23, crude balances rose by 718,000 barrels.
On the distillates front, there was a drawdown of 1.427M barrels last week versus expectations for a drop of just 396,000 barrels. In the previous week, distillate inventories fell by 282,000 barrels.
With gasoline stockpiles, there was a decline of 346,000 barrels versus a forecast draw of 486,000. In the previous week, gasoline balances fell by 3.105 M barrels.