During the week ended May 5, commercial reserves swelled by 3 million barrels while analysts expected a decline of 2.5 million barrels.
Commercial crude oil reserves rose unexpectedly last week in the United States, as imports fell less than exports, according to figures released Wednesday by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA).
During the week ended May 5, US commercial inventories swelled by 3 million barrels while analysts expected a decline of 2.5 million barrels, according to a consensus established by the Bloomberg agency.
On the other hand, gasoline stocks fell by 3.2 million barrels following an increase in demand (+685,000 barrels per day). A decline of 1.5 million was expected.
Crude prices plunged in the face of this surprise increase in American stocks. The barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in July, lost 1.83%, to 76.02 dollars around 3:00 p.m. GMT.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in June, dropped 2.06% to 72.19 dollars.
Crude oil inventories amounted to 462.6 million barrels, which remains 1% lower than the average of the last five years.
The government also dipped slightly into strategic reserves (SPR), which fell by 2.9 million barrels to 362 million barrels.
Refinery activity accelerated slightly, operating at 91% of capacity compared to 90.7% the previous week.
Crude exports almost halved last week (-1.8 million barrels per day), partly explaining the increase in reserves. Imports remained strong even if they fell to a lesser extent (-843,000 bpd).
US crude production remained stable at 12.3 million b/d.
Demand for petroleum products increased by 358,000 barrels per day to 20.1 million. That of gasoline, as the season for many car trips approaches, has increased from 685,000 bpd to 9.3 million bpd.
2023-05-10 15:42:46
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