Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a decrease of 1.7 million barrels during the week ending July 10, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 409.7 million barrels, according to government data, which are now 6% below 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 saw a small draw of 564,000 barrels in the period.
Crude futures were down in morning trading despite escalating tensions between the United States and Iran. At 10:45 a.m. in New York, Brent futures were trading at $84.08 per barrel—down $0.65 (-0.77%) on the day and up roughly $7 per barrel from this same time last week. WTI was also trading down on the day, by $0.21 per barrel (-0.26%) on Wednesday morning at $79.13.
For total motor gasoline, the EIA reported that inventories had decreased by 1.5 million barrels, compared to the week prior’s 1.9 million barrel draw. The most recent figures showed that average daily gasoline production decreased to 9.6 million barrels. For middle distillates, inventories increased by 4.6 million barrels with production increasing to an average of 5.3 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 11% below the five-year average.
Total products supplied—a proxy for U.S. oil demand—averaged 20.3 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, up 0.3% compared to the same period last year. Gasoline demand averaged 8.9 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, while the distillate four-week average supplied averaged 3.7 million barrels—down 2.1% year over year.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
