Oil Little Changed After EIA Data
WASHINGTON, D.C. (DTN) -- Oil futures nearest delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange were little changed following the release of weekly supply data, showing an unexpected barrel (bbl) draw in U.S. crude oil inventories in the week ended April 12, while gasoline inventories eroded further to reach their lowest level since November 2018.
Near 12:00 p.m. ET, Nymex May West Texas Intermediate futures were up $0.05 near $64.10 bbl, and ICE June Brent was up $0.16 near $71.88 bbl, having traded earlier at a fresh five-month high on continuous spot price chart.
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Nymex May RBOB futures rose 1.42 cents to $2.0459 gallon and May ULSD futures lost 0.65 cents to near $2.0757 gallon.
The Energy Information Administration midmorning reported commercial crude oil inventories fell 1.4 million bbl last week, against market expectations for a 1.9 million bbl increase and well below 3.096 million bbl drawdown reported late Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute.
The unexpected draw pushed U.S. commercial crude stocks to 455.2 million bbl, about 2% below the five-year average, while narrowing a year-on-year surplus to 27.6 million bbl or 6.5%. The draw was realized, as U.S. crude production eased 100,000 bpd to 12.1 million bbl during the week profiled, and net oil imports declined 659,000 bpd to 3.591 million barrels per day (bpd) while exports edged higher 52,000 bpd to 2.401 bpd, reversing three weeks of decline.
EIA reported total motor gasoline inventories were drawn down for a ninth consecutive week, falling 1.174 million bbl to 227.955 million bbl, the lowest level in nineteen weeks, 3.4% lower than the same week last year while about 1% below the five-year average for this time of year. Data showed implied gasoline slid 386,000 bpd to 9.420 million bpd in the week reviewed, 4.2% below the corresponding week in 2018. For the four-week-ended April 12, implied gasoline demand at 9.370 million bpd was 0.2% below the corresponding four-week period last year.
Distillate fuel inventories decreased for a fifth week, down 361,992 bbl to 127.691 million bbl, a 16-week low though 1.9% higher than the same week last year. Distillate fuel inventories are about 5% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Liubov Georges can be reached at liubov.georges@dtn.com
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