EIA data show US crude stocks drop 3.06 million barrels, topping forecasts
The Energy Information Administration said US commercial crude inventories declined by 3.06 million barrels in the week ended October 16, far exceeding the 0.82-million-barrel drop analysts had penciled in, leaving stocks at 412.5 million barrels.
That leaves commercial crude holdings roughly 3% under the five-year seasonal norm. The latest pullback followed an even sharper 8.557-million-barrel draw the previous week.
Gasoline supplies likewise shrank more than analysts anticipated, sliding 2.952 million barrels versus a projected 0.443-million-barrel dip, a sharp reversal from the prior week’s 3.518-million-barrel build. Distillate stockpiles moved the opposite direction, climbing 1.675 million barrels when forecasters had instead expected a 1.162-million-barrel drawdown, after a 2.527-million-barrel decline the week before. Distillate supplies now sit around 9% beneath their five-year norm.
The government release arrived a day after the American Petroleum Institute’s private estimate had flagged a steeper crude drawdown of 4.93 million barrels, alongside a 2.0-million-barrel gasoline decline, a 2.6-million-barrel distillate reduction and a 900,000-barrel increase at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point.
A broader measure of US fuel consumption, total products supplied, ran at 21.1 million barrels daily across the trailing four weeks, marking a 3.2% rise from a year earlier. Gasoline consumption over that same stretch came in at 8.7 million barrels per day, and distillate use averaged 3.9 million barrels daily, a 2.4% pullback compared with the year-ago period.
At roughly the time the figures were published, Brent was changing hands near $108.87 a barrel and WTI around $97.69, with neither benchmark showing much movement for the session.
Crude and gasoline draws that exceed expectations typically lend support to oil prices by pointing to tighter near-term availability, though the surprise distillate accumulation can blunt that effect. Swings in Brent and WTI tied to such reports also ripple into currencies linked to energy markets and, through their influence on inflation expectations, into broader rate-sensitive assets.
Sources: Investing.com (commodities); OilPrice.com; investingLive