BREAKING: WTI ticks higher after oil inventory data

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 build in headline crude oil inventories, as well as declines in gasoline and distillate stockpiles. However, private API report released yesterday in the evening suggested a drop in oil inventories as well as build in distillate stockpiles.

Actual data released by DOE today has confirmed direction set by API report, although magnitude of builds and draws differed. Headline oil inventories slumped over 6 million barrels, while build in distillate stockpiles exceeded 1.6 million barrels. Gasoline inventories declined more or less in-line with API suggestions.

DOE report on US oil inventories:

• Oil inventories:  -6.37 mb vs +1.7 mb expected (API: -3.23 mb)
• Gasoline inventories: -0.63 mb vs -1.4 mb expected (API: -0.60 mb)
• Distillate inventories: +1.61 mb vs -0.9 mb expected (API: +0.72 mb)

Oil prices jumped in a knee-jerk move, reacting to a massive draw in headline crude oil inventories. Overall, scale of market reaction to the data was rather small.

Source: xStation5