Crude oil inventories in the United States dropped by 2.3 million barrels for the week ending February 21, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Crude prices were mixed ahead of the release, with the American Petroleum Institute (API) reporting a smaller decline of 640,000 barrels in U.S. crude stocks on Tuesday. At 10:24 am, just before the EIA data was published, Brent crude was down slightly by 0.05%, trading at $72.98, while WTI crude was up by 0.03%, at $68.95.
The inventory drop reported today helps offset the 4.6 million-barrel increase in crude stocks that the EIA had estimated for the previous week.
The EIA also reported a 400,000-barrel rise in motor gasoline inventories for the week ending February 21, with production averaging 9.2 million barrels per day. This is in contrast to a 200,000-barrel drop the week before, with production remaining the same.
For middle distillates, the EIA recorded a significant increase of 3.9 million barrels in inventories, with production averaging 5.2 million barrels per day. This compares with a 2.1 million-barrel decline the previous week, when production was lower at 4.7 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 8% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Over the past four weeks, total products supplied averaged 20.3 million barrels per day, marking a 4.2% year-on-year increase. Distillate products supplied saw a 13.1% rise compared to last year, while gasoline supplies dipped by 0.1%.
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