The drawdown is part of a congressionally-mandated 26 million barrel release of crude oil.
U.S. exports of crude oil also dropped by 1.9 million barrels per day to 2.9 million bpd. Net U.S. crude imports rose by 1.02 million bpd, the EIA said.
The data briefly supported crude prices, but the market then shrugged off the data. By 10:50 a.m. (1450 GMT), Brent crude futures was down $1.53, or 1.9%, to $75.91 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude was $1.45, or 2%, lower at $72.24.
"The EIA report is neutral for me, SPR releases translate in a commercial crude build," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
Gasoline stocks fell 3.2 million barrels to
219.7 million barrels, the EIA said, exceeding analysts'
expectations for a 1.2 million-barrel drop.
Product supplied of finished motor gasoline rose nearly 8%
to 9.3 million bpd, the EIA said.
"That's a big positive with only two weeks to go to
Memorial Day weekend," said Robert Yawger, director of energy
futures at Mizuho.
Refinery operations were largely stable with crude runs rising by 10,000 bpd and utilization rates inching up 0.3 percentage point to 91% of total refining capacity.
Distillate stockpiles , which include diesel
and heating oil, fell by 4.2 million barrels in the week to
106.2 million barrels, versus expectations for a 800,000-barrel
drop, the data showed.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston
Editing by Marguerita Choy
)
