U.S. crude oil inventories fell unexpectedly last week as refineries hiked output due to restarts following Hurricane Harvey and exports soared, while gasoline stockpiles posted a surprise build, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories USOILC=ECI fell 1.8 million barrels in the week to Sept. 22, compared with analysts’ expectations for an increase of 3.4 million barrels. “The highlight from today’s EIA report isn’t the larger-than-expected draw to stocks, but the reported cause of this draw,” said Troy Vincent, oil analyst with Clipper Data. “The EIA showed both refinery runs and exports surging higher last week.” Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI increased by 1 million barrels per day as utilization rates USOIRU=ECI rose by 5.4 percentage points to 88.6 percent […]