WTI higher as DoE says oil inventories fell, possibly on logistical bottlenecks
US crude oil and product stockpiles were down across the board last week as net imports fell back.
According to the Energy Information Administration, the US Department of Energy's statistical arm, crude oil inventories shrank by 2.6m barrels (consensus: -0.7m) over the week ending on 24 August to reach 405.8m.
In parallel, gasoline inventories declined by 1.6m barrels and those of distillates by another 0.8m barrels.
Critically, during the reference week net imports decreased by 657,000 barrels a day to hit 5.706m, amid a 624,000 b/d increase in exports.
Domestic production meanwhile dipped by 67,000 b/d to 10.933m b/d.
The rate of refinery utilisation also decreased, to 96.3%.
Commenting on Wednesday's data, Thomas Pugh at Capital Economics said: "The fall in production excluding Alaska could be the result of logistical constraints and higher transport costs which have put downward pressure on the price that shale producers receive compared to the WTI benchmark.
"[...] As a result of more refineries going into maintenance over the next few weeks we could see a rebound in crude inventories."
As of 1759 BST, front month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were adding 1.182% to $69.35 a barrel on the ICE.