In the week ending September 16, crude oil reserves increased by 1.1 million barrels, while the consensus established by Bloomberg predicted an increase of 2.2 million.
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Commercial crude oil reserves rose last week in the US, according to data released Wednesday by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), but half as much as analysts expected.
But the market has reacted more to the decline in gasoline reserves, the demand for which has further weakened in the United States.
During the week ending September 16, inventories of commercial crude rose by 1.1 million barrels, while Bloomberg’s consensus forecast was for an increase of 2.2 million.
This lower-than-expected increase is reinforced by the fact that US strategic reserves fell by another 6.9 million barrels in the same week.
For Matt Smith of Kpler, this lower-than-announced increase is, in part, due to the jump in refinery utilization rate, which reached 93.6%, up from 91.5% a week earlier, the highest since. a month.
As for the increase in stocks itself, it is largely explained by that of imports, which increased by 20% in one week, while exports remained stable.
While lower-than-expected commercial inventories and an increase in refineries are two factors that could support prices, Matt Smith also noted a further decline in gasoline demand.
On average over four weeks – an indicator followed more by traders than weekly data – it is almost 8% below its level for the same period last year.
Another unfavorable signal for prices, gasoline inventories rose by 1.6 million barrels, tripling the consensus of analysts (522,000 barrels).
While they were up prior to publication, the American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was gaining as much as 3.26%, oil prices fell after the EIA disclosed.
Around 3pm GMT, a barrel of WTI shipping in November, which was the first day of use as a benchmark contract, returned 0.50%, to $ 83.52.
The North Sea Brent barrel, also delivered in November, drops by 0.38% to $ 90.27
In the week of September 10-16, US production remained unchanged, as in the previous week, at 12.1 million barrels per day.
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