Oil Rises On Major Crude Draw

The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a draw in crude oil inventories of 9.517 million barrels for the week ending September 11.

Analysts had predicted an inventory draw of 1.271-million barrels.

In the previous week, the API reported a build in crude oil inventories of 2.970 million barrels, after analysts had predicted a smaller draw of 1.335 million barrels.

Oil prices were trading up on Tuesday afternoon before the API’s data release, but the rising prices come only after a brutal trading day in the day prior when oil prices sunk to their lowest levels since June.

In the hours leading up to Tuesday’s data release, at 2:36 pm EDT, WTI had risen by $1.03 (+2.76%) to $38.29. While up significantly on the day, WTI is trading only a few cents up on the week. The Brent crude benchmark had risen by $0.89 at 2:38 pm (+2.25%) to $40.50. But compared to last week, Brent is trading down $0.25 compared to last week.  

Oil production in the United States rose during the first week of September from the week prior, but it is still down significantly from a high of 13.1 million bpd on March 13. U.S. oil production currently sits at 10.0 million bpd, according to the Energy Information Administration—3.1 million bpd under March highs.

The API reported a build in gasoline inventories of 3.762 million barrels of gasoline for the week ending September 4—compared to last week’s 6.892-million-barrel draw. Analysts had expected a much smaller 160,000-barrel draw for the week.

Distillate inventories were down by 1.123 million barrels for the week, compared to last week’s 2.293-million-barrel build, while Cushing inventory fell by 798,000 barrels.

At 4:37 pm EDT, the WTI benchmark was trading at $38.24 while Brent crude was trading at $40.53.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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