Crude oil trading outlook: WTI futures climb after bullish EIA report

WTI futures extended gains this session, after the US reported a sizable draw across all oil products last week, boosting supply-demand outlooks for the worlds top oil-consuming economy.

WTI futures for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange traded at $92.22 per barrel at 14:52 GMT today, up 1.16% for the day. Prices had ranged from $91.22 to $92.42 per barrel. The US benchmark lost 3.6% on Monday, reversing all recent gains and nearing a 1.1/5-year low.

Meanwhile on the ICE in London, November Brent stood at $95.51 per barrel, up 0.89%, with prices between $94.53 and $95.71 per barrel. The contract’s premium to its US counterpart widened to $3.29, near the lowest in a year. The global benchmark closed Tuesday session for a 2.6% loss, while reaching a two-year low at $94.24.

The EIA report, which covers the week through September 26th, revealed crude stocks had been drawn by 1.4 million barrels, meeting expectations and logging the 15th out of 18 weeks of draws.

Production of crude logged a minor decrease from last weeks 28-year high to 8.84 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, imports of crude increased by 0.4m b/d to about 6.9m. The previous report read for a 16% drop of inbound shipments on a weekly basis.

Stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the NYMEX West Texas Intermediate contract and the largest hub in the US, were slightly higher at 20.5m, while hubs at the gulf coast dropped to 184.5m.

Gasoline stocks were down 1.8m, beating expectations of a 0.6m draw, while distillates, a category which includes diesel and heating fuel, fell by 2.9m, in comparison with analysts expecting no change.

Refineries pared back production as maintenance season kicks in, for an operating capacity of 89.8%, almost 4% below last weeks figure. Gasoline production was logged at 9.0m b/d, slightly lower than last week, while distillates output averaged 4.9m b/d, same as last week.

Both contracts logged massive losses on Tuesday, though managed to reverse some today, as global supply-demand discrepancies weighed heavily as the quarter drew to an end.