US oil stockpiles see unexpected drop in latest week
Stockpiles of crude oil in the US shrank unexpectedly during the latest reference week, albeit alongside a large drop in purchases from overseas.
Commercial crude oil inventories dropped by 1.3m barrels a day during the week ending on 18 November, according to the Energy Information Administration, the US Department of Energy´s statistical arm.
Analysts had expected a build of 1.0m barrels.
Gasoline inventories on the other hand rose by 2.3m barrels and those of distillate fuels by another 0.3m barrels.
Over the same week, imports retreated by 845,000 barrels a day.