Government reports increase in weekly oil stockpiles

The Wall Street Journal – July 22, 2015 – U.S. oil prices briefly dipped below $50 a barrel Wednesday after weekly data showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude-oil supplies.
Light, sweet crude for September delivery recently fell 54 cents, or 1.1%, to $50.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract earlier dropped below $50 a barrel. Brent, the global benchmark, fell 69 cents, or 1.2%, to $56.35 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
U.S. commercial crude-oil stockpiles increased by 2.5 million barrels to 463.9 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal called for stocks to fall by 1.6 million barrels on the week.

Crude-oil supplies typically fall at this time of year as refineries run at high rates to process crude oil into gasoline and other fuels. Refining capacity utilization rose in the week to 95.5% of capacity, the highest level since 2005. Even so, crude supplies rose as imports increased and production held near multi-decade highs.
Gasoline stockpiles fell by 1.7 million barrels, the EIA said. Analysts expected a 600,000-barrel increase.
Gasoline futures fell 1.9% to $1.8851 a gallon.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 200,000 barrels, compared with analysts’ forecast of a gain of 2 million barrels.
Diesel futures fell 0.4% to $1.6725 a gallon.