New York, 3 March 2011

U.S. crude inventories fell unexpectedly last week as imports dropped, but stocks at the key delivery hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, hit a record high, the Energy Information Administration said in a report on Wednesday.

Domestic crude stocks fell 364,000 barrels to 346.38 million barrels in the week to Feb. 25, the report showed, compared with expectations for a 700,000-barrel build in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Crude imports fell 96,000 barrels a day to 7.98 million bpd. Fog had created delays for some tankers attempting to enter the Houston shipping channel last week.

Inventories at the key Cushing terminal rose by 1.13 million barrels to a record 38.57 million barrels. Cushing is the delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange's benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures.

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