Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a decrease of 8.6 million barrels during the week ending October 9, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Thursday. The decrease brings commercial stockpiles to 415.6 million barrels, according to government data, which is now 3% above the five-year average for this time of year.
The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories had fallen by 11.12 million barrels in the period.
Crude futures were trading down at 11:24 a.m. in New York. Brent futures were trading at $105.72 per barrel—down $0.34 (-0.32%) on the day but up roughly $4 per barrel from this same time last week. In contrast, WTI was up on the day, by $1.92 per barrel (+2.02%) on Thursday morning at $97.01, up about $7 per barrel since this time last week.
For total motor gasoline, the EIA reported that inventories increased by 3.5 million barrels, after gaining 400,000 barrels in the week prior. The most recent figures showed that average daily gasoline production averaged 9.2 million barrels. For middle distillates, inventories decreased by 2.5 million with production decreasing to an average of 5.2 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 12% below the five-year average.
Total products supplied—a proxy for U.S. oil demand—averaged 21.1 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, up 2% compared to the same period last year. Gasoline demand averaged 8.7 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, with the distillate four-week average supplied at 4.0 million barrels—down 0.2% year over year.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
