The American Petroleum Institute (API) has estimated a huge surprise crude oil inventory build of 4.7 million barrels for the week ending December 11, compared to analyst expectations of a 1.288-million-barrel draw in inventory.
Last week saw a build in crude oil inventories of 1.41 million barrels, according to API data. The EIA’s estimates reported a smaller build of 800,000 barrels for that week.
After today’s reported inventory move, the net inventory moves so far this year—almost the end of the year–stand at a build of 3.22 million barrels for the last 51-weeks, using API data.
Oil prices had been up on the day prior to the data release, on positive US China trade developments, with a Phase 1 deal reached, and the threat of tariffs averted.
WTI was trading up over 1% on Tuesday. At 2:06 pm EST, WTI was trading up $0.67 (1.11%) at $60.88—more than $1.50 per barrel above than last week’s levels. The price of a Brent barrel was also trading up, by $0.74 (+1.13%) at that time, at $66.08 –almost $2 per barrel over last week’s prices.
The API this week also reported a huge build of 5.6 million barrels of gasoline for week ending December 11, compared to analyst expectations of a smaller build in gasoline inventories of 2.178-million barrels for the week.
Distillate inventories saw a large build of 3.7 million barrels for the week, while Cushing inventories fell by 300,000 barrels.
US crude oil production as estimated by the Energy Information Administration showed that production for the week ending December 6 slipped to 12.8 million bpd off the all-time high of 12.9 million bpd in the week prior.
At 4:45pm EDT, WTI was trading at $60.46, while Brent was trading at $65.74
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com