Oil Prices Retreat on Bearish EIA Report
Crude prices today fell back from a three-month high and are moderately lower in the global commodities market amidst a flood of uncertainties. Ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration and his tariff threats, the dollar index has strengthened; this creates a bearish outlook for energy consumption with a sustained slowdown in China.
On Wednesday, crude oil prices slumped following a bearish weekly EIA report that showed crude inventories fell less than expected last week and gasoline and distillate supplies rose more than expected.
US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 700,000 barrels in the week ended Jan. 3 following a decrease of 900,000 barrels in the previous week.
Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks fell by 1 million barrels after a 1.2 million barrel decline in the previous week, compared with the 2 million barrel decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.
Stocks in the SPR rose by 200,000 in the week after rising by 300,000 in the previous week.
Overall crude oil stocks were down 0.1% from the previous week but were still up 2.7% from a year earlier. Crude oil inventories are about 6% below the five-year average for this time of the year.
Gasoline stocks increased by 6.3 million barrels, higher than the 500,000 barrel increase expected. Gasoline stocks were up 2.7% from the previous week, but down 3% from a year earlier.
Distillate stocks rose by 6.1 million barrels in the current week, compared with an expected increase of 500,000 barrels. Distillate stocks were up 4.9% from the previous week but were still 2.6% lower than in the same week a year ago.
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