By Stephanie Kelly
NEW YORK, Sept 7 (Reuters) – US crude inventories have fallen for a fourth straight week, falling more than 6% over the past month as refiners ramped up oil processing to meet demand. Global energy supply, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Thursday.
* Crude inventories fell 6.3 million barrels, three times the 2.1 million barrel decline analysts had forecast. Crude inventories stand at 416.6 million barrels, down 6.5% from early August, data showed.
* Crude oil processing at refineries rose 20,000 barrels per day (bpd).
* Crude inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery center fell 1.8 million barrels.
* US gasoline inventories fell 2.7 million barrels this week, according to EIA, while analysts expected a 950,000 barrel fall in a Reuters poll.
* Investors were already concerned about global oil supplies this week after Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world’s two largest oil exporters, extended voluntary supply cuts until the end of the year.
* Oil futures reversed, rising shortly after the EIA data but later falling. Brent crude futures fell 0.13% to $90.42 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.18% to $87.38 a barrel.
* Distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, rose 700,000 barrels this week, according to EIA data, versus a 240,000 barrel increase expected.
* US crude oil net imports fell by 250,000 barrels per day.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Adaptation in Spanish by Ricardo Figueroa)
