The stockpiles of crude oil saw a decline of 6.3 million barrels.

Highlights

• The stock of crude oil decreased by 6.3 million barrels, which was higher than what analysts predicted.
• The Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased from 349.5 million barrels to 350.3 million barrels.
• The production of oil within the country remained steady at 12.8 million barrels per day.  

The Weekly Petroleum Status report released by the EIA on September 7 revealed a decline in crude inventories, surpassing analyst expectations. The stockpiles of crude oil decreased by 6.3 million barrels, while analysts had predicted a decrease of 2.06 million barrels. Currently, U.S. crude oil inventories are approximately 4% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

Motor gasoline inventories saw a decrease of 2.7 million barrels, while distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.7 million barrels.

Despite rising oil prices, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased from 349.5 million barrels to 350.3 million barrels, indicating that the United States continued to purchase oil for strategic reserves. This served as a positive catalyst for the oil markets.

Domestic oil production remained unchanged at 12.8 million barrels per day (bpd). Despite the increase in oil prices, there were not enough incentives to push production above the 13.0 million bpd level.

Interestingly, the oil markets did not have a significant reaction to the EIA report. The WTI oil price remained near $87.50, while Brent oil was close to $90.50. It seems that traders decided to take profits after the recent rally, which mitigated the immediate support provided by the bullish report. Additionally, concerns about the global economy's health and the possibility of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve act as negative factors for the oil markets.