West Texas Intermediate oil pared gains in North American trade on Wednesday, after data showed that while oil supplies in the U.S. registered a much larger than expected draw, gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly increased and distillate inventories rose more than expected.
Crude oil for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $1.13, or 1.72%, to trade at $66.97 a barrel by 10:33 AM ET (15:33 GMT) compared to $67.27 ahead of the report.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 5.836 million barrels in the week ended August 17. Market analysts’ had expected a crude-stock draw of 1.497 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply decrease of 5.170 million barrels.
Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, increased by 0.772 million barrels last week, the EIA said. Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 408.4 million barrels as of last week, according to press release, which the EIA indicated was “at the five year average for this time of year”.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories increased by 1.2 million barrels, compared to expectations for a decline of 0.488 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 1.849 million barrels, compared to forecasts for a gain of 1.463 million.
Source: investing