BREAKING: OIL gains after DOE inventory report

US Department of Energy (DOE) released an official weekly report on US oil inventories today at 3:30 pm BST. Report was expected to show a big decline in headline crude oil inventories, as well as small decline in gasoline inventories and a small increase in distillate stockpiles. However, private API report released yesterday show a small build in oil inventories as well as noticeable declines in gasoline and distillate stockpiles.

Actual report showed significant inventory draws in all three major categories. Headline crude inventories dropped 4.65 million barrels, much more than expected. Big declines were also spotted in gasoline and distillate stockpiles. The report was clearly bullish for oil prices and such was the reaction of the market. However, scale of the move on oil market is rather limited, with WTI and Brent being up 0.3% in the first minutes after release.

DOE report on US oil inventories

• Oil inventories: -4.65 mb vs -2.9 mb expected (API: +0.35 mb)
• Gasoline inventories: -1.61 mb vs -0.4 mb expected (API: -1.04 mb)
• Distillate inventories: -3.31 mb vs +0.2 mb expected (API: -2.25 mb)

Source: xStation5