Oil up over 3% as U.S. storage draws defy lower fuel demand
Investing.com — Oil prices jumped more than 3% Wednesday, with U.S. crude hitting a 10-month high above $94 a barrel, as traders responded to another weekly drop in crude stockpiles in the United States even as demand for fuels fell amid a seasonal decline in road travel.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude for delivery in November settled at $93.68 per barrel, up $3.29, or 3.7%, on the day. The session peak was $94.14, the highest the crude benchmark had gotten to since November.
London-traded Brent for December delivery settled at $94.36 a barrel, up $1.93, or 2.1%. Brent’s peak for the day was $94.78. The global crude benchmark’s prior high was $95.96 on Sept. 19.
Oil prices have jumped more than 30% over the past three months in response to production squeezes by Saudi Arabia and Russia, though the rally hit a bump last week on economic and demand concerns.
But data on Wednesday from the U.S. government showing crude stockpiles falling a second week in a row reignited the run-up in oil.
The U.S. crude inventory balance fell by 2.169 million barrels during the week ended Sept. 22, according to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA. Analysts tracked by Investing.com had expected a crude draw of 0.9M barrels instead for last week to add to the 2.135M drop in the prior week to Sept. 15.
Aside from the headline drop in crude stockpiles, the EIA cited a drop of 0.943M barrels last week at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub that serves as a central delivery and storage point for U.S. crude. In the prior week, the API reported a Cushing deficit of 2.064M barrels.
“It’s all about Cushing now, and not without reason, as it’s something that’s making the market
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