The report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that total crude oil and petroleum products (ex. SPR) stocks soared +17.22 mmb to 1281.05 mmb in the week ended December 6. Crude oil inventory increased +0.82 mmb (consensus: -2.76 mmb). Inventory gained in 3 out of 5 PADDs. PADD 3 (Gulf Coast) alone saw increase of +5.43 mmb. Cushing stock declined -3.39 mmb to 40.43 mmb. Utilization rate dropped -1.3 percentage point to 90.6% while crude production slipped -0.1M bpd to 12.9M bpd for the week. Crude oil imports rose +0.9M bpd to 6.89M bpd in the week.