WTI Oil Rebounds From Session Lows As Gasoline Inventories Fall

Key Insights

• Crude inventories increased by 3.6 million barrels from the previous week. 
• Domestic oil production remained unchanged at 13.2 million bpd. 
• Strategic Petroleum Reserve was also unchanged at 351.3 million barrels. 

On November 15, EIA released its Weekly Petroleum Status Report. The report indicated that crude inventories increased by 3.6 million barrels from the previous week, compared to analyst consensus of +1.8 million barrels. At current levels, crude oil inventories are about 2% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

Total motor gasoline inventories declined by 1.5 million barrels, while distillate fuel inventories decreased by 1.4 million barrels. It should be noted that the report for the previous week, which was not released due to a planned systems upgrade, showed that gasoline inventories declined by 6.3 million barrels.

Domestic oil production remained unchanged at 13.2 million bpd. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has also remained at the previous levels at 351.3 million barrels.

WTI oil moved away from session lows after the release of the EIA report as traders focused on declining gasoline inventories. However, traders should note that the previous report showed that crude inventories increased by 13.86 million, which is bearish for the oil market.

Meanwhile, Brent oil made an attempt to settle above the $82.00 level after the release of the EIA data. At this point, declining gasoline inventories offset the negative impact from rising crude oil inventories.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.