NEW YORK, June 21 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub have risen to their highest in two years, as outages at Midwestern refiners crimp demand and higher flows from Canada add to supply.
Stockpiles at Cushing, the delivery point for U.S. crude oil futures, have climbed for eight consecutive weeks after falling earlier this year.
Overseas demand for U.S. crude and an end to refinery outages should reverse the build, said analysts.
"We're going to be sending more (oil exported) abroad," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.
Canadian crude may have been sent toward Cushing as feedstock for a restart of the Toledo refinery, which had a fire last year, said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst for the Americas at Kpler.
Persons:
Phil Flynn, Hillary Stevenson, Cushing, Stevenson, Enbridge, Flanagan, John Coleman, Wood Mackenzie, Matt Smith, Stephanie Kelly, Nia Williams, Arathy, Jonathan Oatis
Organizations:
YORK, Cushing, Price Futures, Energy, IIR Energy, BP, Phillips, North, Americas, Kpler, Thomson
Locations:
Oklahoma, Canada, Cushing, U.S, Toledo, Ohio, Texas, Wood