BREAKING: Oil jumps in spite of US inventory build

Official weekly US report on oil inventories was released today at 3:30 pm BST. API data from private sector, released yesterday in the evening, showed a massive and unexpected build in crude inventories as well as smaller-than-expected build in gasoline stockpiles. Meanwhile, distillate inventories according to API plunged almost 4 million barrels.

Official data released by US Energy Information Administration has to some extent confirmed API estimates - oil inventories indeed increased while distillate inventories plunged. Data on gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly turned out to be lower week-over-week.

• Oil inventories: +2.951 mb vs -1.6 mb expected (API: +3.618 mb)
• Gasoline inventories: -3.168 mb vs +1.2 mb expected (API: +0.399 mb)
• Distillate inventories: -4.17 mb vs -0.8 mb expected (API: -3.945 mb)

Oil moved higher following the release. Brent (OIL) bounced off the daily lows in the $76 area and climbed more than $0.60 per barrel since. Nevertheless, OIL continues to trade lower on the day.