The American Petroleum Institute (API) late Tuesday reported a draw in crude oil inventories of 4.728 million barrels for the week-ending July 23, bringing the total 2021 crude draw so far to nearly 54 million barrels, according to the API data. Analysts were looking for a draw of 3.433 million barrels for the week.
In the previous week, the API reported a surprise build in crude inventories of 806,000 barrels, compared to an expected draw of 4.333 million barrels.
The API also reported a draw in gasoline inventories of 6.226 million barrels for the week-ending July 23 – compared to the previous week’s 3.307-million-barrel build. Distillate stocks saw a decrease in inventories this week of 1.882 million barrels for the week, on top of last week’s 1.255-million-barrel decrease.
Cushing inventories fell this week by 126,000 barrels, compared to last week’s 3.567-million-barrel decrease.
On Wednesday, traders are looking for the U.S. Energy Information Administrationi (EIA) weekly inventories report to show a crude oil draw of about 2.6 million barrels.