Oil prices climb after drawdown in stocks, positive demand outlook
Oil prices climbed on Wednesday after industry data showed a larger than expected drawdown in crude oil stocks in the United States, the world’s largest oil consumer, and on expectations that demand will recover as vaccine roll-outs widen.
Brent crude oil rose 39 cents, or 0.5%, to $73.99 a barrel by 0133 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 44 cents, or 0.5%, to $70.90 a barrel.
U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate stocks all fell last week, according to two market sources, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday, after Hurricane Ida shut numerous refineries and offshore drilling production.
Crude stocks fell by 5.4 million barrels for the week ended on Sept. 10. Analysts on average had been expecting a drop of 3.5 million barrels.
The damage from Nicholas comes just two weeks after Hurricane Ida knocked a significant amount of refining capacity offline in the Gulf Coast this month.
Details on China’s plans to sell crude from strategic reserves pressured prices, however, with China’s state reserves administration saying it would auction off 7.4 million barrels of crude on Sept. 24.
China's daily oil refinery output hits 15-month low in August
China's crude oil throughput continued to fall in August, with daily runs hitting the lowest since May 2020, as a resurgence in coronavirus cases and a drastic cut in fuel export quotas hurt production at refineries.
Processing volumes in August were 58.35 million tonnes, or 13.74 million barrels per day (bpd), down 2.2% from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Wednesday. That was also less than the 13.91 million bpd in July, which was a 14-month low.
Total throughput during the first eight months of 2021 reached 470.79 million tonnes, up 7.4% from a year earlier, largely reflecting the economy's recovery from the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
Thai
Eng