Weekly stockpiles of crude oil in the United States fell the most in three months as energy consumption approached levels seen before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th December, 2021) Weekly stockpiles of crude oil in the United States fell the most in three months as energy consumption approached levels seen before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels in the week to December 10, the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report showed.
Historical EIA data showed it was the most US crude barrels consumed in a week since mid-December.
Industry analysts polled by US media forecast a usage of just around 1.7 million barrels for the week in the world's largest energy consuming country.
Prior to this, crude stockpiles had risen in seven of out 11 weeks, resulting in a net build of 14.5 million barrels over the past three months.
Crude was not the only energy component to experience an inventory drop in the United States last week.
Gasoline stockpiles fell by almost 720,000 barrels, snapping two weeks of back-to-back builds totaling nearly 8.0 million barrels. Analysts had predicted a 1.6-million barrel build instead for gasoline last week.
Gasoline aside, inventories of distillates, the so-called "middle of the barrel" higher-viscous product refined into things like diesel and jet fuel, fell by 2.85 million barrels last week after two previous weeks of builds totaling 4.8 million barrels. Analysts had expected a rise of 1.0 million barrels in distillate stocks for last week.
The weekly EIA data restores some optimism in an industry hurt recently by the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which the Paris-based International Energy Agency said could "temporarily slow" the recovery in oil demand decimated by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus 20 months ago. US crude prices hit a seven-year high of more than $85 per barrel in mid-October before falling to around $70 this week on Omicron concerns.
