On Tuesday, data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that both the crude oil and gasoline inventories in the US plummeted while distillate inventories increased last week.
In the week to July 10, crude oil stockpiles slumped by 8.3 million barrels to 531 million barrels. Analysts only estimated a fall of 2.1 million barrels.
At the delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, the stocks of crude oil climbed by 548,000 barrels.
Gasoline stockpiles slumped by 3.6 million barrels while a Reuters poll estimated a drop of only 643,000 barrels. Inventories of distillate fuel, including diesel and heating oil, jumped by 3 million barrels. The estimations were 1.5 million barrels of gain.
Refinery crude run edged up by 34,000 bpd. In the period, the country’s crude imports slipped by 779,000 bpd.
