MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil prices recovered on Wednesday morning despite word from the Energy Information Administration of an inventory draw of 4.7 million barrels for the week to December 17, according to OilPrice.
At 423.6 million barrels, crude oil inventories remain 8% below the five-year average - compared to 7% below the five-year average last week.
Last week’s draw adds to last week’s huge draw of 4.6 million barrels from crude oil inventories.
On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute estimated a crude oil inventory draw of 3.670 million barrels for the week to December 17.
In gasoline, the API reported a build of 3.7 million barrels, with a decline of 849,000 in distillates. Gasoline inventories increased by 5.5 million barrels in the reporting period according to the EIA, which compared with a draw of 700,000 barrels for the previous week. Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.9 million bpd, compared with 10.0 million bpd in the previous week.
In middle distillates, the EIA estimated an inventory build of 400,000 barrels for the week to December 17, which compared with a decrease of 2.9 million barrels for the previous week. Middle distillate production increased last week, averaging 4.9 million barrels per day, which compared with 4.8 million bpd in the prior week.
Oil prices have been pressured by pandemic concerns courtesy of the Omicron variant that has triggered another round of restrictions in certain countries.
At 10:12 a.m. EDT, crude oil prices were trading up on the day, with WTI crude trading at USD71.35, up USD0.23 (.32%), and Brent crude trading at USD74.20, up USD0.22 per barrel (0.30%).
Post data release, Brent crude was trading at USD74.37 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at USD71.64 per barrel, both up from the opening.
As MRC informed before, US commercial crude stocks fell 3.48 million barrels to 413.96 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 17, to more than 8% below the five-year average, Energy Information Administration data showed. Stocks were last lower Oct. 5, 2018.
We remind that in late August, 2021, US crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That's a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters.
We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, EIA said in a monthly report earlier this year, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC