Crude Oil Prices - August 17

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels in the week ended August 12. Market analysts' expected a crude-stock gain of 0.5 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply drop of 1.0 million barrels.

Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, declined by 724,000 barrels last week, the EIA said.

Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 521.1 million barrels as of last week, which the EIA considered to be “historically high levels for this time of year”.

The report also showed that gasoline inventories decreased by 2.7 million barrels, much more than the expected 1.6-million-barrel decline.

For distillate inventories including diesel, the EIA reported an increase of 1.9 million barrels.