- Crude oil inventories in the US rose unexpectedly last week.
- WTI slumped below $38 with the initial market reaction.
Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 5.7 million barrels in the week ending June 5th, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced on Wednesday. This reading came in much higher than the market expectation for a decrease of 1.7 million barrels.
Market reaction
Crude oil prices came under renewed selling pressure after this data. As of writing, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate was down 1.1% on the day at $37.95.
Additional takeaways
“US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 13.5 million barrels per day during the week ending June 5, 2020, which was 178,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average.”
“Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 16.3 million barrels a day, down by 20.1% from the same period last year.”
“Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 7.4 million barrels a day, down by 22.7% from the same period last year.”