Oil Storage Report - June 6

[dan_s]

EIA and API should meet to see what is causing the big differences in their weekly "SWAGs". Oil Traders go crazy over this stuff. Keep in mind that major holidays often cause some weird numbers. Big swings in inventory are caused by the timing of imports, not production swings. - Dan
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The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories rose by 3.3 million barrels in the week ended June 2.

Market analysts' expected a crude-stock decline of 3.4 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply-drop of about 4.6 million barrels.

Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, decreased by 1.4 million barrels last week, the EIA said.

Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 513.2 million barrels as of last week, which the EIA considered to be at the upper half of the average range for this time of year.

The report also showed that gasoline inventories increased by 3.3 million barrels, disappointing expectations for a gain 580,000 barrels.

For distillate inventories including diesel, the EIA reported a rise of 4.4 million barrels.

Meanwhile, investors continued to weigh the impact of diplomatic tensions between Qatar and other Middle Eastern nations, including Saudi Arabia, on an OPEC-led push to tighten the market.

With oil production of about 620,000 barrels per day, Qatar's crude output ranks as one of the smallest among OPEC producers, but tension within the cartel could weaken an agreement to hold back production in order to prop up prices.

Last month, OPEC and some non-OPEC producers extended a deal to cut 1.8 million barrels per day in supply until March 2018.