Crude Oil prices are back up and heading toward the $80 level. Oil continues to remain in demand, finding bids every time the price of Oil dips. Earlier today we saw a $1 retreat in US WTI crude but the uptrend resumed again after the EIA crude inventories data was released.

The report showed a large buildup, but markets were expecting an even larger inventory increase, so this was seen as a relief and Oil rallied $1.50 higher as the price of Oil approaches $79.

Crude Oil H4 chart – Lows Getting Higher

The Middle East conflict shows no signs of ending, and has a large part in the recent spike in Oil prices though. Crude Oil prices increased to close the session higher despite the API’s data on Wednesday, with Brent recording a 0.8% daily gain and West Texas Intermediate closing 1.1% higher.

US Weekly EIA Oil Inventories

• Crude Oil Inventories:
  • Increased by 3,514,000 barrels, slightly below the expected increase of 3,879,000 barrels. However, this follows a significant prior increase of 12,018,000 barrels.
• Gasoline Inventories:
  • Decreased by 294,000 barrels, beating the expected decrease of 2,113,000 barrels.
• Distillates Inventories:
  • Decreased by 4,009,000 barrels, surpassing the expected decrease of 1,739,000 barrels.
• Refinery Utilization:
  • Showed no change, contrary to the expected increase of 0.9%.
• Production:
  • Remained unchanged at 13.3 million barrels per day (mbpd).
• Implied Mogas Demand:
  • Stood at 8.2 mbpd, slightly higher than the prior figure of 8.17 mbpd.

The API private Oil inventories report from yesterday, showed a larger headline buildup than the EIA figures today. The API report revealed the following changes:

API Prive Oil and Gas Inventories

• Crude Oil Inventories:
• • Increased by 7,168,000 barrels.
• Gasoline Inventories:
  • Increased by 415,000 barrels.
• Distillates InventoCrude ries:
  • Decreased by 2,908,000 barrels.
• Cushing Inventories:
  • Increased by 668,000 barrels.

WTI Crude Oil Live Chart