Commercial reserves of U.S. crude oil, like those of gasoline, fell sharply last week, surprising analysts, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA).
During the week ended August 12, crude inventories fell by 7.1 million barrels to 425 million and those of gasoline fell by 4.6 million barrels.
Average analyst forecasts were for a small increase in crude oil reserves of 800,000 barrels and a modest decrease in gasoline reserves (-1 million barrels).
This significant and unexpected decline in crude inventories, which immediately boosted the price of black gold, is explained by multiple factors.
First, US crude exports more than doubled last week to 5 million barrels per day (mbd) from 2.1 million.
Domestic production fell a little to 12.1 mbd once morest 12.2 mbd the week before, while consumption increased sharply to 21.2 million barrels per day once morest 19.4 mbd.
The refineries also operated at a lower rate of their capacity at 93.5% once morest 94.3%.
After the publication of these figures, at 2:55 p.m. GMT, the price of a barrel of American WTI rose by 1.68% to 87.98 dollars and that of Brent from the North Sea rose by 1.20% to 93.45 dollars.
