Oil rises as API reports moderate draw in crude oil inventories

Crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 4.7 million barrels for the week ending December 6, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Analysts had expected a draw of 1.85 million barrels.

For the week prior, the API reported a 499,000-barrel build in crude inventories.

So far this year, crude oil inventories have fallen by roughly 8 million barrels since the beginning of the year, according to API data.

On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.5 million barrels as of December 13. SPR inventories are now at 393 million barrels, a figure that is about 46 million above its multi-decade low last summer, yet still 242 million down from when President Biden took office.

At 3:22 pm ET, Brent crude was trading down $0.60 (-0.81%) on the day at $73.31—up roughly $1.20 per barrel compared to last Tuesday. The U.S. benchmark WTI was trading down on the day by $0.50 (-0.71%) at $70.21—up about $1.80 per barrel from last Tuesday.

Gasoline inventories rose this week by 2.4 million barrels after last week’s 2.852-million-barrel increase. As of last week, gasoline inventories are 4% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.

Distillate inventories rose by 700,000 barrels, after last week’s 2.452-million-barrel increase. Distillate inventories were about 4% below the five-year average as of the week ending December 6, the latest EIA data shows.

Cushing inventories—the benchmark crude stored and traded at the key delivery point for U.S. futures contracts in Cushing, Oklahoma—rose by 800,000 barrels, according to API data, after falling by 1.517 million barrels in the previous week.