The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a draw in crude oil inventories of 1.163 million barrels for the week ending August 13, bringing the total 2021 crude draw so far to more than 56 million barrels, using API data.
Analysts had expected a loss of 1.259 million barrels for the week.
In the previous week, the API reported a draw in oil inventories of 816,000 barrels-a loss smaller than the 1.050 million barrel draw that analysts had predicted.
The price of a WTI barrel had fallen earlier on Tuesday-rounding out the fourth day of consecutive losses and the longest losing streak since March.
WTI lost more than 1% on Tuesday afternoon leading up to the data release.
At 3:00 p.m. EST, WTI was trading at $66.58-a $.50 loss on the day and $2 per barrel loss on the week. Brent crude was trading down 0.45% for the day at $69.20.
While U.S. crude oil stocks continue their decline, U.S. oil production has slowly risen from 11 million bpd at the start of the year to 11.3 million bpd now-an increase of 100,000 bpd for the week.
The API reported a draw in gasoline inventories of 1.1979 million barrels for the week ending August 13-compared to the previous week's 1.114-million-barrel draw.
Distillate stocks saw an increase in inventories this week of 502,000 barrels for the week, compared to last week's 673,000-barrel increase.
Cushing inventories fell this week by 1.735 million barrels, after last week's 413,000-barrel decrease.
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