The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a modest draw in crude oil inventories of 2.618 million barrels for the week ended April 2.
Analysts predicted a lesser draw of 1.436 million barrels in the week.
In the previous week, API reported an increase in oil stocks of 3.910 million barrels, after analysts forecast a much smaller increase of 107,000 barrels.
Plains All American tanks in main cushing areone from April 2nd.
After sinking on Monday, oil prices rose the day before the data was released, as market fears eased over additional supplies that could be brought to the market if negotiations on the Iranian nuclear deal ended with the lifting of American sanctions.
At 4:02 pm EDT, the WTI was trading at $ 59.40, or 1.28% higher on the day. Brent crude traded at $ 62.79 a barrel or 1.03% to date.
As U.S. oil stocks shrink, U.S. oil production increased modestly to 11.1 million bpd during the week ending March 26, according to the most recent data from the Energy Information Administration. It is the second increase in two weeks.
The API reported an increase in gasoline inventories of 4.553 million barrels for the week ended April 2 – after a 6.012 million barrel draw the previous week. Analysts had expected a draw of 221,000 barrels for the week.
Distillate stocks recorded an increase in inventories this week of 2.810 million barrels in the week, after an increase of 2.595 million barrels last week.
Cushing’s stock fell 84,000 barrels.
After the data was released at 4:34 pm EDT, the WTI benchmark was trading at $ 59.45 – $ 1 shy of last week’s levels. Brent oil was trading at $ 62.83 a barrel.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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