Energy Prospectus

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 4.609 million barrels in the week ended December 22. Market analysts' had expected a crude-stock draw of 3.970 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday reported a supply draw of 6.0 million barrels.

So, over the five week period ending December 22 United States crude oil inventories have fallen almost 900,000 barrels per day. < This is when demand for oil normally softens.

BTW oil inventories are also falling in Europe and in floating storage.