BREAKING: OIL drops after bearish DOE report

US Department of Energy (DOE) issued an official weekly report on US oil inventories today at 3:30 pm BST. Report was expected to show a moderate drop in headline crude oil inventories as well as small increases in gasoline and distillate inventories. However, private API report released yesterday in the evening suggested a deeper-than-expected drop in headline crude inventories as well as an unexpected decline in gasoline stockpiles. API hinted at bigger-than-expected build in distillate inventories.

Official DOE report released today turned out to be a surprise - headline crude oil inventories unexpectedly rose 3.73 million barrels, gasoline inventories increased 2.57 million barrels and distillate inventories increased 0.88 million barrels. All three readings were higher-than-expected, so bearish market reaction should not come as a surprise. Brent (OIL) deepened pullback from daily highs and dropped below $82.70 per barrel.

DOE report on US oil inventories

• Oil inventories: +3.73 mb vs -1.7 mb expected (API: -2.43 mb)
• Gasoline inventories: +2.57 mb vs +0.2 mb expected (API: -2.55 mb)
• Distillate inventories: +0.88 mb vs +0.5 mb expected (API: +0.97 mb)

OIL deepend pullback from daily highs after bearish DOE report. Source: xStation5