Crude oil prices remained largely unchanged today after the Energy Information Administration reported an inventory build of a modest 800,000 barrels for the week to October 27.
A day earlier, the American Petroleum Institute had estimated an inventory increase of 1.35 million barrels for the period, also reporting declines in gasoline and distillate stocks.
The EIA’s latest weekly estimate compares with a crude oil inventory build of 1.4 million barrels for the third week of October.
In fuels, meanwhile, the EIA reported mixed changes in inventories.
Gasoline stocks added 100,000 barrels in the week to October 27, the authority said, with production down, averaging 9.5 million barrels daily.
This compared with an inventory build of 200,000 barrels for the previous week and a production rate of 9.8 million barrels daily.
In middle distillates, the EIA estimated an inventory decline of 800,000 barrels, with production averaging 4.6 million barrels daily, also down on the week.
These numbers compare with an inventory draw of 1.7 million barrels for the previous week, when production averaged 4.7 million barrels daily.
Crude oil production in the U.S. reached an all-time high of over 13 million barrels daily in August, the EIA reported earlier this week, with the previous record set just a month earlier.
Oil prices, meanwhile, remain highly volatile as has become quite usual for them. Efforts to contain the conflict in the Middle East appear to be productive, leading to a decline in the war premium to oil benchmarks. On the other hand, the Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged at this week’s meeting, which could lend some upside potential to prices.
Earlier in the day prices inched up in anticipation of the Fed announcement it would keep rates unchanged. At the time of writing, Brent was trading at $86.95 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate was changing hands at $82.96 per barrel, both up from opening by more than 2%.
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By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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