But crude intake, or the amount of oil refineries processed, was 5.4 percent higher than a year earlier.

Europe's stocks of crude oil and oil products were hardly changed compared with April and down 0.5 percent from May 2016.

Fuel oil stocks were down 13.5 percent year on year largely due to lower Russian availability and to OPEC-led output cuts which have slashed the availability of fuel oil rich sour crudes.