The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced an increase in crude oil this week by 1.860 million barrels, while analysts expected an increase of 333,000 barrels.
The increase comes as the Energy Department released 5 million barrels of strategic petroleum reserves in the week ending July 15, to 480.1 million barrels.
US crude stocks have fallen by about 61 million barrels since the beginning of 2021, an increase of 1.83 million barrels since the beginning of 2020, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute.
In the previous week, the American Petroleum Institute reported an increase in crude oil inventories by 4.762 million barrels after analysts had expected a draw of 1.933 million barrels.
West Texas Intermediate crude traded on Tuesday as fears of market tightness began sparking recession fears – at least for today. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading 1.32% higher on the day at 2:09pm ET in the lead-up to the release at $104 a barrel – a rise of about $8.50 for the week. Brent crude was trading 1.02% higher on the day at $107.30 – a rise of nearly $8 over the course of the week.
US crude oil production data for the week ending July 8 fell by 100,000 barrels per day 12 million barrels per day, according to the latest EIA data.
The American Petroleum Institute also announced an increase in gasoline stocks this week by 1.290 million barrels for the week ending July 15, compared to the previous week’s increase of 2.927 million barrels.
Distillate stocks saw the withdrawal of 2.153 million barrels during the week, compared to last week’s increase of 3.262 million barrels.
Cushing’s stockpiles rose by 523,000 barrels this week, on top of last week’s stockpile increase of 298 thousand barrels. EIA Cushing’s official inventories for the week ending July 8 were 21.646 million, up slightly from 21.330 in the previous week.
At 5:05 PM ET, WTI was up at $103.80 (+17%), with Brent trading up at $107.20 (+0.86%).
By Julian Geiger for Oilprice.com
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