Oil Futures Down as EIA Confirms Crude Build


   
   VIENNA (DTN) --- Oil futures closest to expiration on the New York 
Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange pared 
losses Wednesday morning following the release of the Energy Information 
Administration's Weekly Petroleum Status report but remain down on the day. 
While directionally confirming the American Petroleum's Institute report, the 
EIA saw a smaller increase in crude oil stockpiles and a larger draw to oil 
products.

   The EIA reported commercial crude oil inventories in the U.S. increased 2.7 
million barrels in the week ending April 12, compared to API's reported 4.09 
million bbl build. Gasoline and distillate fuel oil stocks fell by a combined 
4.7 million bbl, versus 2.94 million bbl reported by the API.

   Distillate fuel oil supplied recovered from its previous slump. The demand 
proxy averaged 3.67 million bpd last week, up 680,000 bpd week-on-week. Both 
the weekly and four-week-averages, however, are still trailing year-ago levels.

   Despite the larger product draws, the report's main takeaway didn't differ 
much from yesterday's: crude inventories in the U.S. continue to build at a 
surprising pace.

   Near 11:15 AM ET, WTI futures for May delivery were down $0.78 bbl to trade 
near $84.61 bbl, and Brent for June delivery fell $0.89 bbl to $89.13 bbl. RBOB 
for May delivery dropped $0.0467 gal to $2.7756 gal, while ULSD for May 
delivery traded near $2.626 gal, down $0.0253 gal.

    

   Karim Bastati, karim.bastati@dtn.com, https://www.dtn.com.




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