Oil prices were trading up on the day prior to the data release despite the coronavirus surge in the world’s third-largest oil importer, India, after OPEC’s JTC meeting resulted in a cancellation of the regular ministerial meeting that was to be held on Wednesday, with a recommendation for no changes to the May production quota for the group.
At 2:42 p.m. EDT, WTI traded at $62.87, or 1.55% up on the day and roughly $.50 higher per barrel than this time last week. Brent crude traded up at $66.39 per barrel or 1.13% up on the day.
While crude oil inventories rose substantially this week, U.S. oil production held steady at 11.0 million bpd on average for the week ending April 16, according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration.
The API reported a draw in gasoline inventories of 1.288 million barrels for the week ending April 23—after the previous week’s 1.617 million barrel draw. Analysts had expected a 508,000 barrel build for the week.
Distillate stocks saw a decrease in inventories this week of 2.417 million barrels for the week, after last week’s 655,000-barrel increase.
Cushing inventory figures rose by 742,000 barrels.
Post data release, at 4:33 p.m. EDT, the WTI benchmark was trading at $63.24 while Brent crude was trading at $66.75 per barrel.
