WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2021) US fuel stockpiles increased heavily for a second week in a row in line with seasonal trends and as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus impacted the confidence of energy traders, weekly supply-demand data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday.
Inventories of gasoline, the most popular fuel for automobiles, were up by 3.88 million barrels for the week ended December 3, adding to the previous week's 4.03 million, the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report said.
Stockpiles of distillates, commonly turned into the diesel used by trucks, buses, trains and ships and as jet fuel, grew by 2.73 million barrels on top of the previous 2.16 million.
Consumption of fuels typically falls at this time of year due to seasonally-low autumn-winter driving by Americans.
The Omicron scare had also contributed to the negative psyche of the energy market over the past two weeks, driving oil prices down by more than 20% as the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark for US crude hit four-month lows of under $63 a barrel. The WTI benchmark has since rebounded to above $70 this week.�
