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Crude oil futures rose Thursday after weekly data showed a 2.5M-barrel drawdown in U.S. crude oil stocks after back-to-back weekly gains, and a surprise 2.3M-barrel draw in gasoline, the first drop in four weeks.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 2.5M barrels to 457.1M barrels in the week ended June 14, coming in ~4% below the five-year average for the time of year.
Gasoline inventories fell for the first time since May 17, down to 231.2M barrels, slightly below the five-year average and contrary to expectations for a significant build, the EIA said.
Gasoline demand rose by 346K bbl/day the previous week to 9.4M bbl/day, while refinery runs fell 1.5 percentage point to 93.5% in the biggest decline since February.
Crude imports fell by 1.3M bbl/day to 7.1M bbl/day, while crude exports rose by 1.2M bbl/day to 4.4M bbl/day.
The EIA report was “very bullish,” according to Mizuho’s Robert Yawger. “Gasoline finally came to life and posted its first strong report of the summer driving season.”
Front-month Nymex crude (CL1:COM) for July delivery ended +0.7% to $82.17/bbl, the highest settlement value since April 29 and front-month August Brent crude (CO1:COM) closed +0.7% to $85.71/bbl, the best settlement since April 30.
Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas futures fell as near-term temperature forecasts eased for some parts of the U.S., with the July front-month contract (NG1:COM) closing -5.8% to $2.741/MMBtu.
“Tropical storm Alberto turned inland over Mexico, [so] no major production looks to be shutting in,” and the storm, which dumped heavy rain on Mexico and parts of Texas, is “bringing cooler weather to the southern plains,” Dennis Kissler of BOK Financial said, according to Dow Jones.
ETFs: (NYSEARCA:USO), (BNO), (UCO), (SCO), (USL), (DBO), (DRIP), (GUSH), (NRGU), (USOI), (UNG), (BOIL), (KOLD), (UNL), (FCG)
Energy (NYSEARCA:XLE) was the day’s leading S&P 500 stock market sector by a comfortable margin, +1.8%.
