The U.S. Petroleum Institute (API) reported Tuesday that the stockpile of crude oil from 5.821 million barrels for the week ended January 8 was reported.
Analysts had forecast an inventory of 2,266 million barrels for the week.
In the previous week, the API reported a draw in oil inventory of 1.663 million barrels, after analysts predicted a draw of 1.271 million barrels.
Both Brent and WTI were on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the release of the data, still thundering through Saudi Arabia’s generous offer last week to single-handedly – and voluntarily – cut another 1 million barrels a day from its oil production in February and March.
And while oil prices are now at an 11-month high, coronavirus-inspired exclusions remain hopeful of a recovery in oil demand, dampening oil price rises.
An hour before Tuesday’s data release, WTI rose $ 0.90 (+ 1.72%) to $ 53.14 on the day, rising more than $ 3 a barrel per week. The Brent crude rose $ 0.89 (+ 1.60%) to $ 56.55 on the day – almost $ 3 a barrel during the week.
According to the latest data provided by the Energy Information Administration, U.S. oil production for the fourth week consistently stood at 11.0 million bpd. This is still millions of barrels lower than the 13.1 million bpd peak reached in March 2020.
The API reported an increase in petrol inventory of 1.876 million barrels for the week ending January 8 – compared to the previous week’s build-up of 5.473 million barrels. Analysts had expected a construction of 2.695 million barrels for the week.
Distillate inventory also had another big increase of 4.433 million barrels for the week, compared to the increase of 7.136 million barrels last week, while Cushing stock fell by 232,000 barrels this week.
At 16:34 EDT is trading the WTI standard at $ 53.16, while Brent crude is trading at $ 56.56.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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