Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a build of 4.1 million barrels during the week ending February 7, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Crude oil prices were trending lower today prior to the crude data release by the U.S. Energy Information Administration after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a huge build of 9.043 million barrels in U.S. crude oil inventories. Both the Brent and WTI benchmarks were trading down more than 1%, at $75.93 and $72.15, respectively at 10:16 am, just minutes before release.
Today’s build in crude inventories is in line with seasonal trends and adds to the large build of 8.7 million barrels that the EIA estimated for the week prior.
For total motor gasoline, the EIA estimated that inventories decreased by 3 million barrels for the week to February 7, with production averaging 9.3 million barrels daily. This compares with an inventory rise of 2.2 million barrels for the previous week and an average daily production of 9.2 million barrels daily.
For middle distillates, the EIA estimated an inventory build of 100,000 barrels for last week, with production averaging 4.5 million barrels daily. This compares to an inventory loss of 5.5 million barrels for the week prior, when production stood at an average 4.6 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 11% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total products supplied over the last four weeks slipped to an average 20.3 million barrels per day—a 2.8% increase over this time last year. Distillate products supplied over the last four weeks are up 13.6% compared to this time last year, while gasoline products supplied was up 0.9%.
Shortly after the data release, Brent crude was trading at $75.85 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $72.08 per barrel, both down from the opening.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com