Dow Jones Top Energy Headlines at 11 AM ET: Oil Futures Slip Ahead of U.S. Inventory Data | Vestas ...

Oil futures slide further following an unexpected weekly U.S. crude inventory build that comes on the heels of the Paris-based IEA's monthly report forecasting greater supply growth and lower demand growth. U.S. commercial crude stocks rose by 3 million barrels last week, the U.S. EIA reports, against expectations of a 1 million barrel draw. U.S. crude stocks have been below seasonal minimums since late June driven by strong summer refining demand, Rystad Energy's Svetlana Tretyakova says in a note. "But with runs set to slow after the peak season, the deficit is likely to narrow, easing some of the immediate stock tightness." WTI is off 1.5% at $62.22 a barrel, and Brent is 1.3% lower at $65.26. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)

Heating-oil futures slid to about $2.22 per gallon, their weakest in two months, pressured by rising US distillate and heating oil inventories and a broader glut in global oil supply.

In the week ending August 8th US distillate stocks unexpectedly rose 714,000 barrels and heating-oil inventories climbed 827,000 barrels, while crude stocks jumped 3.04 million barrels, a triple inventory build that immediately eases near-term tightness.

That domestic overhang is playing out against a gluttish global backdrop, the IEA and other forecasters expect oil output to rise materially next year (with record-pace inventory accumulation projected through mid-2026) and OPEC+ is set to unwind production cuts, all while demand growth, notably in parts of Asia, lags.

By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude oil inventories rose last week as domestic production and imports increased, while product stocks were mixed, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased by 3 million barrels to 426.7 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 8 and were about 6% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by 1 million barrels.

Oil stored in the SPR rose by 226,000 barrels to 403.2 million barrels. Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were up by 45,000 barrels at 23.1 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.3 million barrels a day, up by 43,000 barrels a day from the week before. Crude imports increased by 958,000 barrels a day to 6.9 million barrels a day, and exports were 259,000 barrels a day higher at 3.6 million barrels a day.

Refinery capacity use fell by half of a percentage point to 96.4%, although crude input to refineries increased by 56,000 barrels a day to 17.2 million barrels a day. Refinery runs were seen unchanged at 96.9% in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories were down by 792,000 barrels at 226.3 million barrels, and were in line with the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand was 9 million barrels a day, down by 40,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Gasoline stocks were forecast to have fallen by 600,000 barrels.

Distillate fuel stocks rose by 714,000 barrels to 113.7 million barrels, compared with expectations of a 500,000 barrel increase, and were 15% below the five-year average.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Aug. 8: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates        Refinery Use 
EIA data:           3.0          -0.8            0.7                -0.5 
Forecast:          -1.0          -0.6            0.5                unch 
 

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

Chili's has driven customer-traffic gains by trolling fast-food burger chains with its hamburger offerings starting at $10.99, but now the casual-dining chain is also going for chicken. Parent company Brinker International said in a Q4 earnings call that it will relaunch its chicken-sandwich offerings later in its fiscal year. High beef prices are hurting chains, with Brinker expecting higher commodity costs this year. The company's Q4 commodity costs grew 1.7%, which is offset by some price increases. (heather.haddon@wsj.com; @heatherhaddon)

By Kirk Maltais

Inventories of ethanol in the U.S. fell to their lowest since last year, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

In its weekly report, the EIA said ethanol inventories for the week ended Aug. 8 totaled 22.65 million barrels. That's the lowest stocks have been since December 2024, falling 1.1 million barrels below last week and well below the forecasts of analysts surveyed by Dow Jones this week.

Average daily ethanol production landed at 1.093 million barrels per day. That's up 12,000 barrels a day from the prior week. It's also above analyst forecasts, which were predicting average production to fall to between 1.071 million barrels a day to 1.076 million barrels a day.

Most-active corn futures on the CBOT are up 0.8% in morning trade, to more than $3.97 a bushel. In Tuesday's WASDE report, the USDA lifted its outlook for corn consumption by ethanol production to 5.6 billion bushels. That's up 100 million bushels from the USDA's July outlook.

To see related data, search "U.S. DOE Oil Data: PADD Breakdown" in Dow Jones NewsPlus.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

Crude oil inventories in the US rose by 3.037 million barrels in the week ended August 8, 2025, defying market expectations of a 0.8 million decline, according to data from the EIA Petroleum Status Report.

Meanwhile, stocks in the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub increased by 45 thousand barrels.

Among refined fuels, gasoline stocks dropped by 0.792 million barrels while stocks of distillate fuels increased by 0.714 million barrels.