Bearish EIA report fails to dent Brent rally
London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – A rally in oil futures was barely interrupted by a seemingly bearish US weekly oil report Wednesday, which saw a smaller than expected draw in crude stocks and another build in gasoline stocks.
By 15.45 UK time, July Brent was trading at $69.77/b, a few cents shy of its intraday peak and up $1.33/b from 16.30 UK time Tuesday.
Data v expectations
Crude oil stocks drew 400,000 barrels, far less than expectations of a 2.3 million barrel draw in a Reuters poll.
Gasoline stocks were up 400,000 barrels over the week to May 7, adding to last week's build of 700,000 barrels.
That compared with expectations of a 400,000-barrel draw.
Distillate stocks drew 1.7 million barrels, more than the forecast of 1 million barrels.
In the other major products, jet fuel stocks were up 800,000 barrels, ethanol stocks were down 1 million barrels, and residual fuel stocks were unchanged.
Overall, total oil stocks, excluding the strategic reserve, gained 3.9 million barrels over the week, revealing another build in product stocks this week after taking into account the losses in crude.
Total products supplied averaged 17.483 million b/d, down from 19.691 million b/d a week earlier.
US refinery utilization rates fell 0.4% percentage points to 86.1%. That compared with expectations of a 0.5% percentage point rise.
Snapshot
Commercial crude: down 400,000 barrels
Gasoline: up 400,000 barrels
Distillates: down 1.7 million barrels
Jet: up 800,000 barrels
Residual fuel oil: no change
Ethanol: down 1 million barrels
Refinery utilization: down 0.4 percentage points to 86.1%
