NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil inventories rose far more than expected last week on lower demand from refiners, while gasoline stockpiles jumped, the Energy Information Administration said in weekly data on Wednesday.
Commercial crude oil stockpiles in the United States gained 2.1 million barrels to 339.9 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 27, EIA said. Analysts polled by Reuters this week forecast stocks had risen by a modest 400,000 barrels.
The EIA crude stocks build confirms Tuesday's report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) trade group which said crude oil stockpiles jumped 2.9 million barrels last week, well above analysts estimates, as demand from refiners dipped. [ID:nN01PI/] [ID:nAPI000032]
Crude runs, or demand for crude oil from domestic refiners, fell by 127,000 barrels per day to 13.84 million bpd last week, according to EIA. But crude oil imports fell 549,000 bpd in the week, it added.
Gasoline inventories rose by a whopping 4 million barrels last week to 214.1 million barrels, EIA added, four times the average analyst estimate of a 1 million-barrel rise.
Stocks of middle distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, dropped by 1.2 million barrels to 165.7 million, while analysts forecast a small 300,000 barrel decline.
Refinery utilization logged a surprise drop of 0.6 percentage point to 79.7 percent of capacity, EIA said, versus analysts forecasts that it would be up by 0.4 percentage point.
According to Tuesday's API data U.S. gasoline stocks chalked up a big gain of 3.4 million barrels last week while distillates logged a surprise build of 1.1 million barrels. (Reporting by Haitham Haddadin; editing by Jim Marshall) ((haitham.haddadin@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: haitham.haddadin.reuters.com@reuters.net; 646 223 6045))
