Crude oil inventories in the U.S. fell by 600,000 barrels last week to 510.8 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration reported, adding that they remain at unseasonably high levels. This will more than likely reinforce worries that the global glut is going nowhere, at least over the short term.
The American Petroleum Institute yesterday estimated that oil inventories had added 1.4 million barrels, jut a week after the EIA sparked hopes for a recovery with news about a 14.5-million-barrel draw.
EIA's data is once again in contrast to the figures released by the API, whose estimate was more optimistic than analyst expectations. Those were for an increase of 4 million barrels but still, like every weekly build reported by either API or the EIA, the data rattled markets, which are already excessively volatile. The EIA figures should inject some calm, though, as the build is in the six-figure territory, which is sort of good news for what it's worth.
Gasoline inventories in the week to September 9, according to the EIA, were up by 600,000 barrels, after a 4.2-million-barrel decline in the previous week, still above what's normal for this time of year, the EIA noted. Distillate fuel inventories, however, recorded a more substantial increase, of 4.6 million barrels, after rising by 3.4 million barrels in the week before.
Refineries processed a daily average of over 16.7 million barrels in the week to September 9, down from almost 17 million barrels in the prior week. This constituted a 200,000-bpd decline on the previous week, with operation at 92.9 percent of capacity in the seven days to September 9.
Gasoline output was down palpably to 9.9 million bpd in the seven days to September 9, from 10.2 million bpd in the week before, signaling an expected reduction in fuel supply following Labor Day.
At the time of writing, WTI was trading at US$45.02 per barrel, and Brent crude was at US$47.19 per barrel.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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Irina is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. More