U.S. crude, gasoline inventories jump; distillates slip

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude oil inventories in the United States jumped much more than expected last week as imports again rebounded following disruptions by hurricanes in recent weeks, according to government data released Wednesday.

Gasoline also logged a bigger-than-forecast rise. In reaction, November U.S. crude oil futures sank more than $3 to trade below $87 per barrel, while gasoline futures lost more than 10 cents per gallon to hit their lowest level since October 2007.

Domestic commercial supplies of crude surged 8.1 million barrels to 302.6 million barrels in the week to October 3, the Energy Information Administration said. The rise was more than triple the forecasts by analysts for an increase of 2.3 million barrels.

Petroleum imports rose 1.36 million barrels per day last week to 10.35 million bpd, EIA added in its weekly report.

"Obviously, inventories are recovering off the back of the hurricane, and we're rebuilding lost barrels from the last three weeks," said Mark Kellstrom, an analyst with Strategic Energy Research in Summit, New Jersey.

"It looks negative for the crude market, but inventory levels are still on the low side, and we would argue that it's more than discounted in the price of crude oil," he added.

Analysts voiced surprise that crude supplies rose again, even as domestic refinery utilization surged, moving up 8.6 percentage points to 80.9 percent of capacity last week. Analysts had forecast a rise of 6 percentage points.

Demand for crude by refiners, or crude runs, rose 1.57 million bpd to 14.02 million bpd.

Utilization rates had sunk to record lows in the aftermath of hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Hurricane Ike, which slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast September 13, had prompted precautionary shutdowns of about 15 regional refineries.

"The fact that crude supplies were able to build by more than 8 million barrels in the face of the huge jump in runs is also quite negative," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois.

Gasoline stocks rose 7.2 million barrels to 186.8 million barrels last week, EIA said. That was more than six times the 1.1-million-barrel increase analysts had forecast in a Reuters survey.

Combined refinery output of the motor fuel rose 246,000 bpd to 8.94 million bpd last week, the report added. Demand over the past four weeks amounted to 8.77 million bpd, down 5.3 percent from the same period last year.

"You've got refinery margins for gasoline, in many cases, they are negative, so there is no incentive to make gasoline ... but demand is down sharply as well, so I'm sure that's part of it," said Tom Bentz of BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc.

Stockpiles of distillate fuels, which include heating oil and diesel, fell 500,000 barrels to 122.6 million barrels, which was slightly more than the forecast for a decline of 400,000 barrels by the analysts.

Weekly distillates output increased by 351,000 bpd.

The EIA report also showed a rise of 168,000 bpd in imports of refined petroleum products.

A separate report by the American Petroleum Institute showed that U.S. crude stockpiles surged by 9.3 million barrels last week, with gasoline stocks up 3.1 million barrels and distillates down 1.4 million barrels.

API also said crude imports rose by 1.9 million bpd.

(Additional reporting by Janet McGurty; Editing by Walter Bagley)