Mubasher:  US crude oil stockpiles climbed by 6 million barrels to 410 million barrels in the week ended 5 October, for the third time in a row, according to data by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

This came well above forecasts of a 1.61 million rise, according to analysts polled by S&P Global Platts.

However, the increase was below the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) expectations of 9.7 million additional barrels.

Total motor gasoline inventories grew by 1 million barrels, and distillate fuel stockpiles fuel dropped by 2.7 million barrels.

US crude refinery runs reached an average of 16.2 million barrels per day (bpd) during the week, falling by 352,000 bpd from the previous week’s average, as refineries operated at 88.8% of their operating capacity last week.

US crude imports dropped 568,000 to an average of 7.4 million bpd for the same week, compared to the week before, the EIA estimated.

It is worth noting that the EIA figures were released one day later than usual because of Monday’s Columbus Day holiday.

By 3:01 pm GMT, US Nymex futures dropped 2.06% to $71.66 per barrel (pb), while global Brent crude futures slid 2.12% to $81.33 pb.