The Energy Information Administration reported a build of 4.6 million draw in crude oil inventories for the week to March 30, mostly in line with the analyst polled by IG, who forecasted a draw of 4.1 million barrels. For the previous week, the EIA had reported a 1.6-million-barrel increase in crude oil inventories.
In the previous session, the American Petroleum Institute surprised traders with a crude oil inventory Draw of 3.28 million barrels, against the expected of a more modest build.
The effect of EIA’s report is likely to be limited this week, as Bloomberg survey yesterday conducted among analysts revealed that OPEC’s production last month had fallen to a 12-month low. Though this was largely due to the inexorable slide in Venezuela’s oil production.
The numbers don’t lie, and the market is prone relentless volatility.
The positive effect of this update, on the other hand, was cancelled out by another breaking news that the Russian reported to have the highest oil production in 11 months for March, that is slightly above its quota under OPEC agreement from December 2016.
In the United States, production will likely also continue to grow, after two weeks ago it hit another high of 10.433 million barrels per day. Though Baker Hughes reported a lowering rig count last week.
The fluctuations in the rig count doesn’t affect the productivity resulting to the U.S. production numbers for last week, to be released later in the day, that would most likely be higher than the previous week.