Crude oil futures sharply higher after U.S. EIA inventory data

Forex Pros – utures Pros – Crude oil futures extended gains on Wednesday, climbing to a fresh two-day high after a government report showed that U.S. crude oil inventories were unexpectedly unchanged last week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at USD99.88 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, rallying 2.5%.

It earlier rose as much as 2.8% to USD99.97 a barrel, the highest price since May 16. The crude contract traded at USD98.89 before the release of the data.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories remained unchanged in the week ended May 13, after jumping by 3.8 million barrels in the preceding week.

Analysts had expected U.S. crude oil inventories to rise by 1.5 million barrels.

Total U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ended May 13 stood at 370.3 million barrels, remaining above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.

Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 0.1 million barrels, falling shoart of expectations for a 1 million barrel gain, while stocks of distillate fuels including heating oil and diesel dropped by 1.2 million barrels. 

U.S. crude oil imports averaged just under 8.6 million barrels per day last week, down by 394,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the last four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged nearly 8.9 million barrels per day, 868,000 barrels per day below the same four-week period last year.

Crude’s earlier gains came amid easing concerns over a slowdown in demand in the U.S., the world’s largest crude consumer.

Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for July delivery climbed 1.3% to trade at USD111.64 a barrel, up USD11.76 on its U.S. counterpart.

Meanwhile, natural gas for June delivery gained 0.94% to trade at USD4.223 per million British thermal units, while heating oil for June delivery jumped 1.3% to trade at USD2.892 per gallon during U.S. morning trade.

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