The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a major draw in crude oil inventories of 5.147 million barrels for the week ending November 6.
Analysts had predicted an inventory draw of just 913,000 barrels.
In the previous week, the API reported a shockingly large draw in oil inventories of 8.01-million barrels, after analysts had predicted a build of 890,000 barrels for the week.
Oil prices were trading up on Tuesday afternoon before the API's data release, buoyed by major media outlets calling the U.S. Presidential Election for Joe Biden and OPEC+ hints that it may extend the current round of production cuts beyond January. Bearish factors this week include the continued increase of oil production in Libya, and additional lockdowns in Europe.
In the runup to Tuesday's data release, at 3:57 p.m. EDT, WTI had risen by $1.07 (+2.66%) to $41.36 up nearly $4 per barrel on the week. The Brent crude benchmark had risen on the day by $1.21 at that time (+2.85%) to $43.61-up more than $3 per barrel on the week.
Oil production fell last week, continuing its seesaw action as it bounces between 9.7 million bpd and 11.1 million bpd. U.S. oil production currently sits at 10.5 million bpd, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The API reported a draw in gasoline inventories of 3.297-million barrels of gasoline for the week ending November 6-compared to the previous week's 2.45-million-barrel build. Analysts had expected a 263,000-barrel draw for the week.
Distillate inventories were down by a whopping 5.619-million barrels for the week, compared to last week's 577,000-barrel draw, while Cushing inventories fell by 1.17-million barrels.
At 4:42 pm EDT, the WTI benchmark was trading at $41.61 while Brent crude was trading at $43.85.
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