Crude oil trading outlook: WTI and Brent futures steady after US inventories report

WTI and Brent futures were steady and heading for daily gains during midday trade in Europe today, as the US weekly oil report failed to impact prices too much. Crude oil and gasoline stocks saw moderate draws last week, while distillates added, largely as expected.

West Texas Intermediate futures for delivery in October traded at $94.02 per barrel, up 0.17%, at 14:52 GMT on the NYMEX. Prices ranged from $93.75 to $94.24 per barrel. The US benchmark added 0.5% yesterday.

Meanwhile, October Brent on the ICE in London, stood for a 0.20% increase at $102.70 per barrel. Daily low and high were $102.42 and $103.07 per barrel, respectively. The contract’s premium to its US counterpart narrowed to $8.68. The European brand dropped 0.1% on Tuesday.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) posted its weekly report on oil stocks today. Commercial crude supplies were shown to have dropped 2.1 million barrels in the week through August 22, beating estimates of a draw of 0.9m-1.9m barrels.

Supplies of crude at Cushing, Oklahoma, the biggest US storage hub and delivery point for NYMEX-traded contracts, rose to 20.7 million barrels from 20.2m a week earlier, after reaching half of year-ago levels two weeks ago.

Gasoline stocks dropped 1 million barrels , while distillates, a category which includes diesel and heating oil, were up 1.3m.

Refineries operated at 93.5% of their operable capacity, with gasoline production gaining to close on 10m barrels per day, while distillate fuel output was little changed at ~5m barrels daily.

Domestic crude production was little changed at 8.6 million barrels per day, more than 1 million above year-ago levels. Meanwhile, imports of crude stood at 7.6 million bpd, 1 million down from year-ago levels.