Crude oil prices jumped higher today after the Energy Information Administration reported an inventory decline of 6.7 million barrels for the week to June 25.
This compares with a draw of 7.6 million barrels the EIA estimated for the previous week.
A day earlier, the American Petroleum Institute had reported a crude oil inventory draw of over 8 million barrels for last week, the sixth consecutive week of inventory draws.
Analysts had expected the EIA to report an inventory draw of 4.686 million barrels for the week to June 25.
In gasoline, the EIA reported an inventory build of 1.5 million barrels for last week, which compared with a decline of 2.9 million barrels for the previous week. Gasoline production averaged 9.6 million bpd last week, compared with 10.3 million bpd for the previous week.
In middle distillates, the authority estimated an inventory draw of 900,000 barrels for the week to June 25, which compared with a build of 1.8 million barrels for the previous week. Production of middle distillates averaged 5 million bpd last week. This compared with 5.1 million bpd for the previous two weeks.
Oil prices, meanwhile, are gaining but more slowly as the market anticipates the outcome of this week’s meeting of OPEC+, scheduled for tomorrow. Concern about the spread of the latest coronavirus variant is also dampening optimism but not enough to arrest oil’s rally.
The overwhelming sentiment continues bullish both among forecasters and traders, with the former expecting an oil deficit this year as demand is set to continue growing faster than demand. Most are looking to OPEC+ to narrow the gap between the two and put a lid on prices but given OPEC+’s caution until now, chances are it will stick to it and not rush to add too many barrels to the market yet.
At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $75.32 a barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $73.75 a barrel.
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By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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