Oil prices jump due to the withdrawal of crude oil due to the hurricane

Crude oil prices rebounded on Wednesday morning after the Energy Information Administration mentioned Crude oil inventories withdrew 9.4 million barrels for the week ending August 30th.

This compares with a decrease in inventories of 4.7 million barrels in the previous week, and the 6.36 million barrels announced by the American Petroleum Institute yesterday. Analysts were is expected Drawdown relatively modest stocks of 1.95 million barrels for the week ending August 30th.

At 498.4 million barrels, stocks remained above the five-year average for this time of year as the recovery in demand stalled.

The IEA also reported a withdrawal of 4.3 million barrels of gasoline and a 1.7 million barrels decrease in distillate fuel stocks for the last week of August. This compares with the withdrawal of gasoline stocks of 4.6 million barrels per day for the previous week and the construction of 1.4 million barrels of fuel output.

Gasoline production averaged 9.5 million barrels per day last week, up slightly from the previous week. The average production of distilled fuel last week was 4.8 million barrels per day last week, down an average of 5.1 million barrels per day in the previous week.

Last week, refineries processed 13.9 million barrels per day of crude oil, compared to 14.7 million barrels per day during the previous week. Hurricane Laura played a major role in processing rates last week as some refineries were forced to shut down temporarily.

Oil prices have been heading higher since the start of the week due to a series of bullish news, including strong economic data from China, the weakening US dollar which made oil cheaper for buyers in foreign currencies, and reports of further stimulus discussions in major markets. All this fueled hopes for a faster recovery in oil demand and higher prices.

At the time of writing, Brent crude is trading at $ 45.29 a barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $ 42.31 a barrel, both of which are lower from today’s opening trading.

Written by Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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