Crude oil prices rose today following the release of the U.S. Energy Information Administration. report Inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels in the week ending July 5.
This compares with a much larger drop of 12.2 million barrels the previous week.
The American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday that inventories were estimated to have fallen by 1.9 million barrels in the week to July 5, reinforcing recognition of a strong peak demand season in the world’s largest crude consumer.
Meanwhile, the EIA reported mixed changes in fuel inventories for the week ending July 5.
For gasoline, the agency projected production would be at 10.3 million barrels per day, with inventories falling by 2 million barrels in the first week of July.
In comparison, gasoline production averaged 10.1 million barrels per day in the last week of June, with inventories falling by 2.2 million barrels.
For middle distillates, the agency estimated inventory increases for the week ending July 5 to be 4.9 million barrels, with production averaging 5.1 million barrels per day.
That compares with a drawdown of 1.5 million barrels in inventories the previous week, when fuel production averaged 5.1 million barrels per day.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell early today following the release of weaker than expected economic data from China, the data in question being for June. inflationcame in below expectations, reinforcing concerns about consumer demand in the world’s biggest oil importer. Prices still rose 0.2% from 0.3% in May, marking a fifth straight month of gains.
Benchmark prices remained weak even after OPEC released its latest monthly report and reiterated expectations of strong demand for crude. maintain Growth forecast for this year is 2.2 million barrels per day.
Oil prices also lost any chance of a temporary boost from Hurricane Beryl after oil companies operating on the Gulf Coast signaled they had weathered the storm with little damage.
Stocks rose slightly after the Fed chairman’s testimony before the Senate on the same day, which strengthened expectations of a rate cut this year, but Fed Chairman Jerome Powell suggested the central bank would not rush to cut rates until it was confident the economy could handle it.
By Irina Slav of Oilprice.com
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