Crude oil prices have risen higher today after the Energy Information Administration reported a 9.9 million barrels of crude oil inventory decline for the week to Jan. 22. Fuel stocks were mixed.
Crude oil draw compared to a build of 4.4 million barrels in the previous week. It has also been compared to analysts’ expectations for a modest increase of about 600,000 barrels.
As for gasoline, the authority reported a stock increase of 2.5 million barrels for the week to January 22, with an average production of 8.7 million barrels per day. This compares with a modest stock drop of 300,000 barrels and an average production of 8.9 million barrels per day in the previous week.
Middle distillates disposed of 800,000 barrels last week, compared to a production of half a million barrels the week before. Production averaged 4.5 million barrels per day for the second week in a row.
A day before the EIA released its weekly petroleum report, the American Petroleum Institute reported its own estimate of oil reserves, a draw of 5.272 million barrels. As this amount far exceeded analysts’ expectations, oil prices rose gradually. Related: The 5 Best Utility Stocks in 2021
Prices were also supported by reports of possible disruptions to supplies from Iraq and Libya. The former said it planned to reduce production in line with its obligations under the OPEC + agreement, while the latter’s exports are under threat from the Petroleum Facilities Guard, which claims it owes salaries.
Meanwhile, the IMF said it expected oil prices to average $ 50 a barrel this year, which would be significantly higher than the 2020 average, but lower than the 2019 average. Still, the forecast was an upward revision of the earlier forecast. from the IMF for oil prices. signaling that the market is improving, but slowly.
At the time of writing, Brent oil was trading at $ 55.62 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was trading at $ 52.27 a barrel. Both had fallen since trading opened today.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
More important articles from Oilprice.com: