The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated on a surprise crude oil inventory build of 1.57 million barrels for the week ending January 17, compared to analyst expectations of a 1.009-million-barrel draw in inventory, reports Oilprice.om
The week saw a build in crude oil inventories of 1.1 million barrels, according to API data. The EIA’s estimates, however, were of a draw of 2.5 million barrels for that week.
Oil Prices Down
Oil prices were down earlier in the day prior to the afternoon data release, despite continued unrest in oil-rich Iraq and a near-complete oil production disruption in Libya, as fears of economic slowdown once again surface—this time not from the trade dispute between the United States and China, but due to a deadly SARS-like virus known as coronavirus in China that now shows a confirmed case in the United States.
Oil Market in the Past Week
- The WTI benchmark was trading down $1.34 (-2.30%) at $57.04, roughly $1.30 per barrel under last week’s levels. The price of a Brent barrel was also trading down by $1.11 (-1.72%), at $63.48—roughly $1.10 under last week’s prices.
- The API in the week also reported another large build of 4.5 million barrels of gasoline for week ending January 17, after last week’s large 3.2-million-barrel build.
- This week’s large gasoline build compares to analyst expectations of a 3.090-million barrel-build for the week.
- Distillate, too, saw inventories increase, by 3.5 million barrels for the week, adding onto last week’s large 6.8-million-barrel build, while Cushing inventories fell by 429,000 barrels.
- US crude oil production as estimated by the Energy Information Administration showed that production for the week ending January 10 increased to 13.0 million bpd, a record high for the United States.
- At 4:43 pm EDT, WTI was trading at $56.60, while Brent was trading at $63.07.
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Source: Oil Price
