US commercial crude stocks fell 10.3 million barrels to 390.69 million barrels for the reporting week ended May 16, American Petroleum Institute data showed Tuesday. The draw is far larger than analysts had expected. A Platts survey of analysts Monday showed stocks were expected to have fallen 300,000 barrels. NYMEX July crude rose to $102.90/b in electronic trading shortly after the data. The contract had earlier settled at $102.33/b. The draw comes amid a sharp, 468,000 b/d decline in US Gulf Coast crude imports, which fell to 3.52 million b/d last week. USGC crude runs edged higher, up 47,000 b/d to 8.28 million b/d. These factors combined to cut USGC crude stocks by 6.41 million barrels to 202.05 million barrels. Total US imports fell 860,000 b/d to 6.78 million b/d, while crude runs rose 170,000 b/d to 15.87 million b/d. The increase in runs helped to boost US refinery […]