Oil Shallowly Mixed After EIA Data

NEW YORK (DTN) -- New York Mercantile Exchange spot-month oil futures turned shallowly mixed in midmorning trade, with the market reacting with restraint to the latest report by the Energy Information Administration that was seen as bullish for products and bearish for crude oil.

EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report for the week-ended Nov. 3 showed U.S. crude oil stockpiles unexpectedly increased by 2.2 million bbl, missing an estimate for a 2.5 million bbl draw while the American Petroleum Institute reported a draw of 1.56 million bbl. Still, total crude stocks at 457.1 million bbl are 2.6% below a year ago level. In addition, the EIA report showed U.S. crude production rose by 67,000 bpd to 9.62 million bpd during the week reviewed, suggesting relentless increases in domestic production that could undermine attempts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce global surplus.

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On the bullish side of the ledger, demand rose across the board, which helped whittle down product stocks. The report showed gasoline supply declined by a more-than-expected 3.3 million bbl as implied demand for the fuel increased 35,000 bpd to a strong 9.496 million bpd weekly rate during the week-ended Nov. 3.

Distillate fuel supply tumbled 3.4 million bbl as demand spiked 952,000 bpd. The jump in distillates demand is seasonally driven. Distillate fuel supplied averaged 3.9 million bpd over the last four weeks, down 2.9% year-on-year.

Refinery crude inputs rose 290,000 bpd for the week as runs jumped 1.5% to 89.6% of operable capacity.

At 11:10 AM ET, NYMEX December West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 40cts to $56.80 bbl and January Brent on the Intercontinental Exchange was 23cts lower at $63.46 bbl.

Products were little changed, with NYMEX December ULSD futures easing 0.11cts to $1.9208 gallon while December RBOB futures were up 0.47cts to $1.82 gallon.

George Orwel can be reached at george.orwel@dtn.com

(BAS)

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