US posts biggest crude draw since January: EIA
London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Oil futures were choppy in afternoon trade immediately after the release of the weekly US oil statistics from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Wednesday as an unexpected draw in crude countered lacklustre data on gasoline pressured contracts.
July Brent initially surged after the release of the data, peaking at $69.94/b.
But the front month crude future then quickly reversed to hit a low of $69.10/b.
By 16.00 UK time, July Brent was trading at $69.73/b, around the same level before the stocks was released.
Data v expectations
Crude oil stocks saw a draw of 8 million barrels, more than treble analyst expectations of a 2.34-million barrel draw.
The crude figure was similar to the 7.7 million barrel fall reported by the American Petroleum Institute Tuesday in its weekly oil statistics.
US crude imports also dropped to 5.5 million b/d, down 1.2 million b/d from a week earlier, according to the EIA, in what was another bullish sign for domestic prices.
Gasoline stocks were up 700,000 barrels over the week to April 30, adding to last week's build of 100,000 barrels.
That compared with expectations of a 700,000-barrel draw, so was bearish US gasoline prices.
Distillate stocks fell 2.9 million barrels over the week to April 30, far more than the 1.1 million barrel draw expected in what is a bullish sign for jet fuel and diesel.
Specifically, jet fuel stocks were up 1.7 million barrels, ethanol stocks were up 700,000 barrels, and residual fuel stocks were down 700,000 barrels.
Overall, total oil stocks, excluding the strategic reserve, dropped 5.6 million barrels over the week, revealing a build in product stocks after taking into account the losses in crude.
Total products supplied averaged 19.69 million b/d, down 700,000 b/d from a week earlier.
US refinery utilization rates rose 1.1 percentage points to 86.5%. That compared with expectations of 85.9%.
Production
Production of gasoline fell to 9.1 million b/d over the week, down from 9.6 million b/d a week earlier.
Production of distillates was almost the same week-on-week, dropping marginally to 4.5 million b/d from 4.6 million b/d.
Key data
Commercial crude : minus 8 million barrels
Gasoline : plus 700,000 barrels
Distillates : minus 2.9 million barrels
Jet : plus 1.7 million barrels
Residual fuel oil : minus 700,000 barrels
Ethanol : plus 700,000 barrels
Refinery utilization : plus 1.1 points (86.5%)
