Weekly US oil inventory data from the EIA:

  • Prior was +2080K
  • Gasoline +1608K vs -1000K expected
  • Distialltes -1695K vs -750K expected
  • Prior gasoline inventories -110K
  • Oil production 8.938 mbpd vs 8.953 mppd last week (down 0.16%)

The API figures released earlier underpinned oil earlier today. They showed a 1100K draw in crude inventories despite a 1.9m barrel build at Cushing. They showed gasoline inventories down 400K and distillates down 1000K.

This is a bit of a shock after API showed a draw. Moreover, the gasoline numbers add to the bearish news (although it's somewhat balanced by the slightly larger distillates draw). The slow in production slowed as well.

Oil bears get a reprieve here but lately bearish oil news has been brushed off and bullish oil news pounced on.