New York (Platts)--23 Sep 2015 439 pm EDT/2039 GMT

Oil futures weakened Wednesday on signs of a US refinery slowdown and Chinese factory contraction.

NYMEX November crude settled down $1.88 at $44.48/b. ICE November Brent settled $1.33 lower at $47.75/b.

NYMEX October ULSD settled down 2.64 cents at $1.5056/gal, while NYMEX October RBOB settled 3.48 cents lower at $1.3816/gal.

US crude stocks decreased 1.925 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday in its weekly inventory report.

NYMEX November crude reached an intraday high of $47.15/b in the wake of the EIA data release, but the rally fizzled and oil futures spent the afternoon in negative territory.

"The market might have headed lower because people are thinking we're heading into maintenance season and this will take demand off the table," Tradition Energy senior analyst Gene McGillian said.

US crude runs fell 310,000 b/d to 16.203 million barrels. The refinery utilization rate plunged 2.2 percentage points to 90.9% of operable capacity, exceeding analysts' expectation of a 0.7-percentage-point decline.

EIA weekly data also showed an increase in US gasoline stocks of 1.369 million barrels last week and a 2.088 million-barrel decrease in US distillate stocks.

The oil market came under pressure Wednesday after a reading of Chinese manufacturing dropped to its lowest level since March 2009.

The Chinese Flash Caixin PMI for manufacturing was below expectations in September, dropping to 47.0 from 47.3 in August. A score below 50 represents contraction, and above 50 indicates expansion.

"Chinese President Xi downplayed concerns about weakening growth in a speech in Seattle last night, repeating a prior promise that China can maintain medium to high growth," Confluence Investment Management said in a note. "However, it is likely that Chinese growth will slow as the country repositions itself from investment- and export-led growth to consumption-led growth."

--Geoffrey Craig, geoffrey.craig@platts.com
--Edited by Annie Siebert, ann.siebert@platts.com

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