Crude oil prices were in the red today after the Energy Information Administration reported an inventory build of 3.2 million barrels for the week to March 22.
U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) decreased by 2.0 million barrels from the week ending March 8 to the week ending March 15, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its latest weekly petroleum status report.
Oil prices on Thursday fell after a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude stockpiles stoked worries about slow demand, while signs that U.S. interest rates could remain elevated added to pressure.
Crude oil prices went lower today, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an estimated inventory increase of 4.2 million barrels for the week to February 23.
According to StanChart, the global oil surplus we are currently witnessing is due to seasonal weakness in the month of January.
StanChart notes that there’s been a January inventory draw in only three years since 2004, with the first month of the year averaging a build of 1.2 million barrels per day.
StanChart has predicted that this surplus is transitory and will flip into a 1.6 mb/d deficit in February.
U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), decreased by 9.2 million barrels from the week ending January 12 to the week ending January 19, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest weekly petroleum status report.
In a victory speech following the close of the Iowa Caucuses last night, the first electoral event of the U.S. Republican Party’s 2024 primary race, former President Donald Trump’s first order of business was a promise to “drill, baby, drill — right away” if re-elected. The priority given to concerns regarding the U.S.’s energy output by the Republican frontrunner appeals to Americans’ frustration with relatively elevated oil prices and an expectation that they will rebound again in the near future.
National average gasoline prices rose 0.6 cents from a week ago, hitting $3.04 on Sunday.
The national average price for diesel in the U.S. has seen a 2-cent drop in the last week, now at $3.89 per gallon.
GasBuddy: the escalating situation in the Red Sea created significant volatility.
This week, the oil market witnessed a significant rebound, driven by a confluence of factors including a weaker dollar and revised demand forecasts from major energy organizations.
Hedge funds have cut their bullish bets on crude oil to record lows.
Money managers have slashed their net long positions in both WTI and Brent crude oil by 59,094 lots to just 149,272 in the week ending December 12.
Crude oil prices have been on the decline over the last month, although spot prices for both benchmarks were trading up on Friday.