DTN Oil Update
Oil Futures Climb on Crude, Gasoline Inventory Draws
HOUSTON (DTN) -- Oil futures continued its upward trend on Thursday after Energy Information Administration data showed a higher-than-expected draw in U.S. commercial crude inventories last week.
Expectations of limited supplies had set a bullish tone in the oil futures market, while traders continued to monitor confirmation of a trilateral meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. to resume talks on negotiating a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire agreement, following the Trump-Putting summit last week.
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The front-month NYMEX WTI futures contract climbed by $0.73 to $63.44 bbl, and the October ICE Brent futures contract increased by $0.72 to $67.56 bbl. The September RBOB futures contract rose by $0.0305 to $2.1588 gallon, while the ULSD futures contract for September delivery increased by $0.0473 to $2.2369 gallon.
The U.S. dollar edged up by 0.450 points to 98.530 against a basket of foreign currencies.
On Wednesday, Aug. 20, EIA reported a draw on U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, falling by 6.0 million bbl to 420.7 million bbl, last week. The decline was 4.0 million bbl down from the same period last year. This was above the 2.4 million bbl draw the American Petroleum Institute reported on Aug. 19.
Meanwhile, EIA data showed that gasoline inventories dropped by 2.7 million bbl to 223.6 million bbl last week, compared to a 1 million build reported by the API during the same period.
Distillate fuel inventories climbed by 2.3 million bbl to 116.0 million bbl last week, down by 12.4 million bbl compared to the same time in the prior year. The figure was above the 500,000 bbl build reported by API.
Refinery utilization climbed week-on-week to 96.6% in the week of Aug. 15 from 95.4% rates last week, EIA data showed.
On Wednesday, BP reported flaring activity at its 435,000 bpd Whiting refinery following severe thunderstorms that struck Northwest Indiana late Tuesday, Aug. 19. The storms led to flooding and severe conditions in the surrounding neighborhoods, according to a company statement. Chicago jet fuel and CBOB basis have surged in response to anticipated supply tightness, driven by a potential disruption at the Whiting refinery and a weekly inventory draw in the Midwest region reported by the EIA.
