Data released on Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed a historic weekly drop in the country's crude oil inventories. For the week ending on July 28, the EIA's crude oil inventories plummeted by 17.05 million barrels, setting a record for the largest single-week decline and far exceeding the anticipated decrease of 1.05 million barrels, compared to the previous value of a 600,000 barrel reduction. The weekly drop in crude oil inventories along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico also made history.
The EIA's other inventory data for the week of July 28 were as follows:
In the Cushing area, crude oil inventories decreased by 1.26 million barrels, compared to the prior value of a 2.61 million barrel reduction.
Gasoline inventories rose by 1.48 million barrels, contrary to the expected decline of 1.55 million barrels and the previous reduction of 786,000 barrels.
Refined oil inventories, including diesel and heating oil, fell by 796,000 barrels, beating the forecasted decrease of 100,000 barrels.
WTI crude oil futures slightly rose after the release of EIA's crude oil inventory data but then continued to follow the early intra-day downward trend, reaching a low of $80.19. Overall, it fell by more than 1.3% during the day, nearing the psychological threshold of $80. The oil inventory's positive effect was insignificant due to Fitch's downgrade of the U.S. rating. With the rise of the dollar and the fall of U.S. stocks and bonds, oil prices also took a hit.
The American Petroleum Institute's (API) industry version of the weekly report showed that last week, U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 15.4 million barrels compared to the previous week, setting a record for the largest single-week drop, while analysts only anticipated a decline of 1.3 million barrels. The weekly drops in U.S. gasoline and refined oil inventories also exceeded analysts' expectations, with gasoline inventories decreasing by 1.68 million barrels and refined oil inventories decreasing by 512,000 barrels. The API data trends align with the EIA data, with the only deviation being in the gasoline inventory section.
The total amount of U.S. crude oil inventories has now returned to the lowest level since January.
