Oil Inches Higher After EIA Reports Surprise Crude Draw

Crude oil prices gained today after the Energy Information Administration reported a crude oil inventory draw of 2.1 million barrels for the week to November 12.

At 433 million barrels, the authority said, crude oil inventories were 7 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.

The reported draw compared with an unexpected build of 1 million barrels for the previous week and analyst expectations of another build, of 1.55 million barrels.

In gasoline, the EIA reported an inventory decline of 700,000 barrels for the reporting period, which compared with a draw of 1.6 million barrels for the previous week.

Gasoline production averaged 9.9 million bpd last week, which compared with 10.1 million bpd for the prior week.

In middle distillates, the EIA estimated an inventory draw of 800,000 barrels for the seven days to November 12, with production averaging 4.8 million bpd.

This compared with a stock draw of 2.6 million barrels for the previous week and average daily production of 4.9 million barrels.

Refineries processed 15.4 million bpd last week and imports of crude stood at 6.2 million bpd. This compared to refinery runs of 15.4 million bpd and imports of 6.1 million bpd for the previous week.

Oil prices were trending lower at the time of writing, with Brent crude at $81.79 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $79.87 a barrel.

A forecast by the International Energy Agency that high oil prices would lead to a boost in production served to limit the upward potential of prices this week, even though concern about the adequacy of global supply remained.

At the same time, the IEA revised up its forecast for the average price of Brent for next year because of the supply concerns. Now, the authority expects the benchmark to average $79.40 per barrel in 2022.