The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a build in crude oil inventory of 2.81 million barrels for the week ending May 3, coming in over analyst expectations of a 744,000-barrel buildup in inventories.
Last week, the API reported a surprise buildup in crude oil of 6.81 million barrels. A day later, the EIA reported an even larger build of 9.9-million-barrels.
Including this week's data, the net build is now 20.92 million barrels for the 19-week reporting period so far this year, using API data.
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Oil prices fell sharply on Tuesday as the China-US trade war continues, sparking fears that global growth will be disappointing, despite a tightening of oil supplies in Venezuela and Iran in the wake of US sanctions.
WTI was trading down on Tuesday before the data release at $60.74, down $1.51 (-2.43%) on the day at 12:42pm, but down week on week by more than $3 per barrel. The Brent benchmark was also trading down on the day at $69.47, down $1.77 (-2.48%) at that time. The Brent benchmark was also significantly down week on week.
The API this week reported a draw in gasoline inventories for week ending May 3 in the amount of 2.833 million barrels. Analysts estimated a draw in gasoline inventories of 917,000 barrels for the week.
Distillates fell by 834,000 barrels for the week, while inventories at Cushing gained 618,000 barrels.
US crude oil production as estimated by the Energy Information Administration showed that production for the week ending April 26-the latest information available-hit yet another all-time high of 12.3 million bpd.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration report on crude oil inventories is due to be released on Wednesday at 10:30a.m. EST.
By 4:41pm EST, WTI was trading down at $60.74 and Brent was trading down at $69.47.
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