U.S. crude stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week for the first time since March as imports slipped, U.S. government data showed on Wednesday. Gasoline and distillate inventories also dropped more than expected, as refining rates fell, data from the Energy Information Administration showed. Crude inventories fell 3.4 million barrels in the week to May 6, as imports fell an average 5,000 barrels per day, the EIA said. Analysts on average had expected an inventory increase of 714,000 barrels. Imports from Canada, where a raging wildfire has curtailed production in Alberta’s oil sands region, were 2.953 million barrels per day, compared with 2.924 bpd a week earlier. “The report has been quickly viewed as bullish with the crude draw just about exactly opposite to what API had: a 3.4 million barrel build,” said Dominick Chirichella, senior partner at the Energy Management Institute in New York, referring to the American Petroleum Institute […]