The price of crude oil rose higher today after the Energy Information Administration reported a 9.9 million barrel crude oil stock drawdown for the week to January 22nd.
Crude oil extraction compared to a build-up of 4.4 million barrels for the previous week. It also compared with the analyst’s expectations for a modest increase of around 600,000 barrels.
In petrol, the government reported an increase in stock of 2.5 million barrels for the week to 22 January, with an average production of 8.7 million bpd. This compares with a moderate stock drop of 300,000 barrels and an average production of 8.9 million bpd for the previous week.
Middle distillates dumped 800,000 barrels last week, up from half a million barrels the previous week. Production averaged 4.5 million bpd for the second consecutive week.
A day before the EIA released its weekly petroleum report, the U.S. Petroleum Institute reported its own estimate for oil supplies. It was a draw of 5.272 million barrels. As this amount exceeded analysts’ expectations by a wide margin, the oil price rose higher. Related: The 5 Best Utility Supplies in 2021
Prices are also supported by reports of possible disruptions in Iraq and Libya. The former said they intend to reduce production in line with its obligations under the OPEC + agreement, while the latter’s exports are threatened by the Petroleum Facility Guard, which claims it owes salaries.
Meanwhile, the IMF said it would expect oil prices to average $ 50 a barrel this year, which would be significantly higher than the 2020 average but lower than the 2019 average. Nevertheless, the forecast was an upward revision of the IMF’s previous forecast. for oil prices. however, the signal from the market is slowly improving.
At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $ 55.62 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate changed from $ 52.27 a barrel. Both have been lower since the trade opened today.
By Irina Slave for Oilprice.com
More lectures from Oilprice.com: