US oil stocks up 8.5 mln barrels, biggest jump since March

NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose by a sharp 8.5
million barrels last week, posting their largest weekly gain since March as
imports surged, government data showed on Wednesday.
Domestic stocks of crude rose by 8.53 million barrels to 367.63 million
barrels, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts polled by
Reuters had forecast a much smaller build of 1 million barrels.
U.S. imports of crude jumped by 1.28 million barrels per day to 9.81 million
barrels per day. Net crude oil imports hit their highest weekly level since
January.
Refinery utilization rose 4.2 percentage points to 88.9 percent of capacity,
but oil product stocks still fell unexpectedly, the EIA data showed. Analysts
had forecast a rise in plant utilization of 1.1 percentage points.
U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 1.41 million barrels to 196.31 million
barrels. Analysts had expected an increase of 1.2 million barrels. Total U.S.
gasoline stocks fell to the lowest level since October 2008. In the East Coast
region, gasoline stocks fell by 2.3 million barrels.
U.S. distillate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by
322,000 barrels to 128.23 million barrels, compared with analysts' average
forecast for an increase of 1 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures fell further after the data. By 10:37 a.m. EDT
(1437 GMT), they were trading down $2.81 at $92.48 per barrel.
Crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma fell by 274,000 barrels to 43.81
million barrels.

(Reporting by Joshua Schneyer; Editing by Dale Hudson)
(matthew.robinson@thomsonreuters.com; 646 223 6052; Reuters Messaging:
matthew.robinson.reuters.com@reuters.net)