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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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More
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