Mubasher: US crude oil stockpiles jumped by 3.1 million barrels to 422.6 million barrels in the week ended 27 September, the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) reported.

This came contrary to the findings of industry-funded American Petroleum Institute's (API) weekly report which showed a drop of 5.9 million barrels.

Total motor gasoline inventories went down by 200,000 barrels, while distillate fuel stockpiles fell by 2.4 million barrels.

US crude refinery runs averaged 16 million barrels per day (bpd) during the week, declining 496,000 bpd from the preceding week’s average, the EIA’s weekly report said.

Moreover, refineries operated at 86.4% of their operating capacity last week.

US crude imports went down by 87,000 bpd, averaging 6.3 million bpd, compared to the prior week, the EIA said.

Following the release of the EIA report, US Nymex crude futures fell by 0.35% to $53.43 per barrel (pb), while international benchmark Brent futures dropped by 0.56% to $58.56 pb.