By David Gaffen

(Reuters) – The U.S. crude oil stocks fell unexpectedly as refined product demand reached an all time high, according to data from government on Wednesday. This shows how the U.S. economy is reducing the already tight supply.

    Crude inventories fell 4.8 million barrels in the week to Feb. 4 to 410.4 million barrels, their lowest for commercial inventories since October 2018, the Energy Information Administration said. In a Reuters poll, analysts had expected a 369k barrel increase.

The Omicron coronavirus strain seems to have ended the mild dip in oil demand that was observed early January.

The U.S. product provided – the best indicator of demand for the country – was at its highest point in four weeks, peaking at 21.9million barrels per hour (bpd), due to high economic activity across the nation. U.S. demand has increased for both diesel and other distillates such as propane or propylene.

Although the weekly gasoline product supply soared at 9.1 million barrels per day, it was still slightly less than seasonal averages.

This is a dramatic rebound in gasoline demand. We’re now past Omicron, and there has been renewed travel demand. John Kilduff of Again Capital said, “Refineries are running more which contributed the crude drawdown.”

    Refiners have had a hard time keeping up with demand, as crude runs rose by 329,000 bpd in the last week, EIA said, boosting refinery utilization rates by 1.5 percentage points to 88.2% of their overall capacity.

    U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 1.6 million barrels to 248.4 million barrels, the EIA said. Stockpiles of distillate, including diesel and ethanol, decreased by 929,000 barrels during the week.

    Net imports fell by 1.42 million bpd and crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 2.8 million barrels, the EIA said.

According to the data, oil prices rocketed. Oil futures gained 94 Cents per barrel to $91.72 by 10:55 am EST (1555 GMT), while U.S. crude rose 66 Cents to $90.02/barrel