The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a draw this week for crude oil of 2.445 million barrels, compared to analyst predictions of a 1.533 million barrel build.
The draw comes even as the Department of Energy released 5 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in Week Ending May 13.
U.S. crude inventories have shed some 76 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 18 million barrels since the start of 2020, according to API data.
In the week prior, the API reported a build in crude oil inventories of 1.618 million barrels after analysts had predicted a draw of 457,000 barrels.
Oil prices were trading up on Tuesday as the market anticipates a resurgence in oil demand from China, with Shanghai returning to normal as early as June 1.
WTI was trading up 0.56% at $114.80 per barrel on the day at 11:21 a.m. ET-up roughly $15 per barrel on the week. Brent crude was trading up 0.51% on the day at $114.80-and up nearly $17 per barrel on the week, with the spread between the two benchmarks now completely evaporated.
U.S. crude oil production fell to 11.8 million bpd in the week ending May 06-the first drop since the end of January. Crude production in the United States is down 1.3 million barrels per day from pre-pandemic times.
This week, the API reported a draw in gasoline inventories of 5.102 million barrels for the week ending May 13-after the previous week's 823,000-barrel build.
Distillate stocks saw a build in inventories of 1.075 million barrels for the week compared to last week's 662,000-barrel increase.
Cushing saw a 3.071-million-barrel draw this week. Cushing inventories slipped to 28.242 million barrels in the week prior, as of May 6, according to EIA data-down from 59.2 million barrels at the start of 2021, and down from 37.3 millin barrels at the end of 2021.
At 4:39 pm, ET, WTI was trading at $112 (-1.93%), with Brent trading at $111.30 (-2.58%).
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More
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