U.S. commercial crude oil reserves fell last week contrary to expectations and strategic reserves fell further, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
During the week ended Feb. 25, US crude inventories fell 2.6 million barrels to 413.4 million as analysts expected them to rise almost as much. The United States also again drew on its strategic reserves, down 2.4 million barrels.
This continuous drawdown on strategic reserves has been part of President Joe Biden’s strategy since November to combat the rise in prices that has been taking hold for several months.
This imperative is even more pressing since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a major oil producer, and the multiplication of sanctions vis-à-vis Moscow.
Mr Biden announced on Tuesday that the United States would release 30 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves, half the amount decided on Tuesday by member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Oil prices, which have soared since the invasion of Ukraine launched on Thursday, maintained their momentum.
At 5:00 p.m. GMT, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in May gained 4.55% to 109.77 dollars. In New York, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for maturity in April climbed 4.13% to 107.67 dollars.
Earlier, the two benchmark contracts had peaked since 2013 for Brent at $112.51 and since 2014 for WTI at $113.94.
According to weekly figures from the EIA, gasoline stocks also fell by 0.5 million barrels, but less than expected, as did those of distilled products (fuel oil, diesel) which fell by 0.6 million barrels. barrels.
US crude production remained stable at 11.6 million barrels per day (mb/d), still far from its pre-pandemic level. Refinery capacity utilization increased a little to 87.7%.
Demand slowed to 20.8 mb/d from 21.4 mb/d the week before, due to lower heating oil consumption. Imports decreased by one million barrels per day while exports increased by the same amount.
–
