One week after reporting a massive crude oil inventory construction of more than 21 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration had another unpleasant surprise for inventory observers: the authority reported an inventory construction of 13.8 million barrels for the week until March 5. and another in distillates, however, made up for the negative news.
A day earlier, the American Petroleum Institute reported an estimated increase in crude oil stocks of up to 12.79 million barrels for the week to March 5, compared to analysts’ expectations of a modest increase of 816,000 barrels.
Expectations for the EIA estimate were for a 833,000 barrel drop in crude oil stocks.
In terms of petrol, the EIA reported a decline in stocks of 11.9 million barrels, compared to an estimated 13.6 million barrels for the previous week. Gasoline production averaged 9 million barrels per day, compared to 8.3 million bpd a week earlier.
With regard to distilled fuels, the authority estimated an inventory extraction of 5.5 million barrels for the week to 5 March, compared with a decline of 9.7 million barrels for the previous week. Average distillate production averaged 3.7 million bpd last week, up from 2.9 million bpd a week earlier.
Refineries processed 12.3 million bpd last week, operating at 69% of capacity, amid a resumption of normal operation following the Texas frost that led to interruptions and shutdowns.
Meanwhile, oil prices stopped on their way higher as traders began to make profits, with some bets that the downside potential began to outpace the upward momentum.
At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $ 68.01 a barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $ 64.52 a barrel, both down from the highs earlier this week, when Brent briefly exceeded $ 70 a barrel. barrel. The rally was fueled by OPEC + ‘s decision to leave production cuts as they are for another month and reports that crude oil supply is shrinking globally as demand begins to grow.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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