In the week ended April 28, US reserves fell by 1.3 million barrels as analysts bet on a lower median reduction of 500,000 barrels.
Commercial crude oil reserves fell more sharply than expected again last week in the United States, according to figures released Wednesday by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA).
In the week ended April 28, U.S. commercial inventories fell 1.3 million barrels to 459.6 million barrels as analysts bet on a lower median reduction of 500,000 barrels, according to a consensus compiled by the Bloomberg agency.
Gasoline inventories increased by 1.7 million barrels, contradicting analysts’ expectations, which had forecast a decrease of 1.5 million barrels.
The government also dipped slightly into strategic reserves (SPR), which fell by 2 million barrels to 364.9 million barrels.
Despite this decline in stocks, crude prices, very attacked already on Tuesday, continued to fall as fears of recession and worries about American regional banks cause anxiety vis-à-vis the future demand for black gold.
Around 3:00 p.m. GMT, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in June, dropped 4.17% to 68.67 dollars, a first since the end of March.
Its European equivalent, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in July, lost 3.93% to 72.36 dollars.
“Overall, the crude market in recent days has been plagued by bearish sentiment caused by the banking crisis which combines with another rate hike from the US central bank which could result in a recession slowing demand for crude. said Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates.
The rise in gasoline stocks was mainly due to the backlash of the sharp drop the week before (-2.4 million barrels), explained for his part Matt Smith of Kpler.
The factors explaining the fall in prices lie “in economic concerns”, confirmed Matt Smith again. “Russia continues to introduce crude and distillates into the market as much as it wants, China is not showing as strong a recovery as hoped,” he added.
Crude imports and exports remained nearly flat, but product demand fell by some 400,000 barrels per day to 19.8 million barrels per day.
Production increased slightly by 100,000 barrels per day to 12.3 million bpd.
Refinery activity slowed to 90.7% from 91.3% the week before but it should pick up again in the coming weeks, said the Kpler analyst.
2023-05-03 16:23:31
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