The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a draw of crude inventories of 5.272 billion barrels for the week ending Jan. 22.
Analysts had predicted a lower inventory of 430,000 barrels for the week.
The previous week, the API reported an accumulation of 2.562 billion barrels of oil inventories, after analysts had predicted a draw of 1.167 million barrels.
Oil prices traded lower on Tuesday before the release of data. China’s blockades, the IEA’s dire prospects for oil demand, the slow global deployment of the coronavirus vaccine and a possible delay or hiccup in the next round of stimulus payments the new administration said which would be imposed immediately drags down prices.
Half an hour before Tuesday’s release, WTI had fallen $ 0.27 a day (-0.51%) to $ 52.50, down $ 0.80 from last Wednesday.
The Brent crude benchmark had fallen by $ 0.06 (-0.11%) at the time, to $ 55.82, a drop of $ 0.70 a week.
According to the latest data provided by the Energy Information Administration, US oil production has remained constant at 11.0 million barrels per barrel for six consecutive weeks, with limited expectations of a rapid increase in production. as oil companies tread carefully.
The API reported an accumulation of gasoline inventories of 3,058 million barrels for the week ending Jan. 22, compared to construction of 1,129 million barrels the previous week. Analysts had expected a construction of 1.764 billion barrels for the week.
Distillate inventories rose 1.398 billion barrels during the week, adding to last week’s 816,000 barrel increase, while Cushing’s inventories fell 3,475 million barrels.
At 4:36 p.m. EDT, the WTI benchmark was trading at $ 52.55, while Brent crude was trading at $ 55.87.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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