The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a sizeable crude oil inventory build for the week ending on November 9th. The build of 8.79 million barrels was the sixth in as many weeks. The report was significantly higher than analyst expectations of a smaller build in crude oil inventories of 3.012 million barrels.
Inventories in the Cushing, Oklahoma facility this week had climbed by 726,000 barrels, adding to the inventory builds this week, while analysts had estimated a 2.419 million build this week.
Prices were in a downward spiral on Tuesday as OPEC cut its demand forecast by 400,000 bpd in its monthly Oil Market Report, which also showed a pretty sizeable increase in non-OPEC supply growth of 2.31 million bpd. Halting the slide, OPEC and its non-OPEC partners allegedly discussed a production hike of 1.4 million bpd, according to multiple Reuters sources.
At 10:20 am EST, WTI was trading up 2.41% (+$1.34) at $57.03—still nearly $5 per barrel lower than this time last week. The Brent crude benchmark was trading up 2.80% (+$1.83) at $67.03, also a roughly $5 per barrel decline week on week.
The API reported a build in gasoline inventories for week ending November 9 in the amount of 188,000 barrels. Analysts had predicted a draw of 1.375 million barrels for the week.
US crude oil production as estimated by the Energy Information Administration was also bearish in nature, showing that production for the week ending November 2 stood 11.6 million bpd—a brand new high for the United States.
Distillate inventories—the only draw this week—were down by 3.224 million barrels, compared to a smaller expected draw of 1.610 million bpd.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration report on crude oil inventories is due to be released on Wednesday at 10:30a.m. EST.
By 4:40pm EST, WTI was trading up for the day at $56.23 and Brent was trading up at $66.10.