Article by ForexTime

Crude oil prices were nearly unchanged on Wednesday as a build in distillates offset a weaker U.S. dollar.  The IEA reported a counter seasonal rise in crude oil inventories, while the EIA reported robust demand for gasoline.

OECD inventories rose counter-seasonally by 9.9 million barrels to hit another all-time high of 2916 million barrels in June with their surplus to average levels widening to a record 210 million. The supply overwhelmed global oil demand which is expected to grow by 1.6 barrels per day, up 0.2 million barrels per day according to the IEA. Persistent macro-economic strength supports above-trend growth of 1.4 million barrels a day in 2016.

Distillate inventories climbed while crude and gasoline stocks dropped.  According to the EIA, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 1.7 million barrels from the previous week. At 453.6 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories remain near levels not seen for this time of year in at least the last 80 years. Gasoline inventories decreased by 1.3 million barrels last week, but are in the middle of the average range. Distillate fuel inventories increased by 3.0 million barrels last week and are in the middle of the average range for this time of year.

Article by ForexTime

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