EIA Says US Crude Inventories Sink Further

Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a decrease of 3.1 million barrels during the week ending October 16, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The decrease brings commercial stockpiles to 412.5 million barrels, according to government data, which is now 3% below the five-year average for this time of year.

The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories had fallen by 4.93 million barrels in the period.

Crude futures were trading down at 10:26 a.m. in New York. Brent futures were trading relatively flat at $108.87 per barrel—up $0.08 (+0.07%) on the day and up roughly $3 per barrel from this same time last week. WTI was trading slightly down on the day, by $0.13 per barrel (-0.13%) on Wednesday morning at $97.69, up less than $1 per barrel since this time last week.

For total motor gasoline, the EIA reported that inventories decreased by 3 million barrels, after gaining 3.5 million barrels in the week prior. The most recent figures showed that average daily gasoline production averaged 9.8 million barrels. For middle distillates, inventories increased by 1.7 million with production increasing to an average of 5.2 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 9% below the five-year average.

Total products supplied—a proxy for U.S. oil demand—averaged 21.1 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, up 3.2% compared to the same period last year. Gasoline demand averaged 8.7 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, with the distillate four-week average supplied at 3.9 million barrels—down 2.4% year over year.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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