BREAKING: OIL gains after US oil inventories data

US Department of Energy (DOE) issued an official weekly report on US oil inventories today at 3:30 pm BST. Report was expected to show declines in oil and gasoline inventories as well as a minor uptick in distillate inventories. However, private API report released yesterday in the evening hinted to a deeper than expected draws in oil and gasoline inventories, as well as an unexpected drop in distillate inventories.

DOE data released today has been more or less in-line with API report released yesterday. However, a reported drop in gasoline inventories was almost twice as large as suggested by API, while oil and distillate inventories were mostly in-line with API print. 

Report can be seen as bullish for oil and such is the reaction of the market - Brent (OIL) and WIT (OIL.WTI) moved around 0.3-0.4% higher following DOE release.

DOE report on US oil inventories

• Oil inventories: -3.74 mb vs -2.5 mb expected (API: -3.9 mb)
• Gasoline inventories: -5.57 mb vs -0.5 mb expected (API: -2.8 mb)
• Distillate inventories: -1.71 mb vs +0.1 mb expected (API: -1.5 mb)

Brent (OIL) gained following release of US inventory data and erased daily drop. OIL is now trading around 0.2% higher on the day. Source: xStation5