The U.S. Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday that it had drawn 4.785 million barrels of crude oil for the week ended Dec. 25.
Analysts have forecast an inventory of 2,100 million barrels for the week.
In the previous week, the API reported an increase in oil inventory of 2.70 million barrels, after analysts predicted a draw of 3.135 million barrels.
Both Brent and WTI were up on Tuesday morning ahead of the release of data on hopes for a larger round of stimulus checks signed by President Donald Trump and the House on Monday. However, profits are still limited by OPEC’s plans to gradually increase oil production after the start of the year, despite the blockade and depressed demand.
Moments before Tuesday’s data release, WTI rose $ 0.41 (+ 0.86%) to $ 48.03, up $ 0.80 a barrel per week. The Brent crude benchmark rose $ 0.44 at that time (+ 0.87%) to $ 51.30 – about $ 1 a barrel per week.
According to the Energy Information Administration, US oil production remained stable at 11.0 million bpd for the week ending December 18 – 2.1 million bpd lower than the 13.1 million bpd peak in March.
The API reported 718,000 barrels of 728,000 barrels of gasoline for the week ending December 25 – compared to the previous week’s 224,000 barrel draw. Analysts had expected a construction of 1.778 million barrels for the week.
Distillate inventory decreased by 1.877 million barrels for the week, compared to the increase of 1.03 million barrels last week, while Cushing’s inventory increased by 131,000 barrels this week.
At 16:36 EDT is trading the WTI standard at $ 47.99, while Brent crude is trading at $ 51.07.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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