Oil Steady As API Reports Small Draw In Crude Inventories

Crude oil inventories in the United States decreased this week by 797,000 barrels, the American Petroleum Institute (API) data showed on Tuesday after increasing by 3.026 million barrels in the week prior.

Analysts were expecting a much draw of 2.25 million barrels in U.S. crude-oil inventories. The total number of barrels of crude oil gained so far this year is nearly 34 million barrels, according to API data, although the net draw in crude inventories since April is more than 13 million barrels.

On Monday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported no change to the inventory held in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in the week ending July 14, ending 15 straight weeks of decreases in the SPR inventory to a 40-year low of 346.8 million barrels.

The price of WTI and Brent were both trading up on Tuesday in the run-up to the data release. By 4:16 p.m. EST, WTI was trading up 2.14%, at $75.74 per barrel—up just shy of $1 per barrel since last Tuesday, while Brent crude was trading up 1.54% at $79.71—up just $.20 this from this time last week.

Gasoline inventories saw a decent draw, falling by 2.8 million barrels after rising by 1.004 million barrels in the week prior. Distillate inventories fell by 100,000 barrels, compared to the 2.908 million barrel build in the week prior.

Crude oil production in the United States slipped back to 12.3 million bpd for the week ending July 7, according to EIA data, up just 100,000 bpd from the start of the year.

Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, fell by 3 million barrels, after rising by 2.150 million barrels in the previous week.

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