Crude oil prices rose Wednesday morning after the Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil stocks had lost 5.9 million barrels in the week to April 9.
This compared to a stock intake of 3.5 million barrels in the previous week.
The EIA’s stock estimate comes a day after the American Petroleum Institute reported an inventory take of 3.6 million barrels of crude oil for the same period, but a production of 5.565 million barrels of gasoline supplies, preventing oil prices from swinging up or down significantly. .
For gasoline, the EIA estimated a modest inventory build-up of 300,000 barrels for the week to April 9, with an average production of 9.6 million barrels per day. This compared to an inventory build-up of 4 million barrels in the previous week and an average production rate of 9.3 million barrels per day.
For middle distillates, the authority estimated a stock decline of 2.1 million barrels for the week to April 9, with an average production of 4.6 million barrels per day, almost unchanged from the previous week, with inventories reaching 1.5 million barrels.
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Brent crude oil was trading at $ 65.04 a barrel at the time of writing, with West Texas Intermediate at $ 61.55 a barrel. Both are up more than 2 percent since opening, supported by news of a 21 percent increase in oil imports into China last month. However, the headwind remains strong.
“Prices are still in a sideways limbo as bearish Covid-19 developments in some countries compete with bullish economic data and spending outlooks in the US and China,” Rystad Energy analysts said Tuesday.
Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, said in a new note that it expected prices to remain in range until the end of the summer, at between $ 65 and $ 70 a barrel for Brent.
The slow roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines in Europe and the news that Johnson & Johnson vaccinations could be temporarily suspended due to rare blood clotting problems in several patients are also weighing on oil prices.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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