WTI futures pare daily gains on bearish EIA supply data

West Texas Intermediate crude trimmed its hard-earned gains and Brent swing back to losses after the Energy Information Administration reported a jump in all major US inventory categories, while the nations crude production surged to a new record.

US crude for delivery in February traded at $46.08 per barrel at 15:46 GMT, up 0.41% on the day, having earlier risen to $46.75. The contract fell 0.39% on Tuesday to $45.89, the lowest settlement since April 2009.

Meanwhile on the ICE, Brent for delivery in the same month was down 0.21% to trade at $46.49 a barrel. Prices shifted between $47.14 and $45.59 during the day. The contract slid 1.77% to $46.59 yesterday, having earlier declined to $45.19 a barrel, the lowest since March 2009. Brent traded at a premium of $0.41 to its US counterpart, down from Tuesday’s settlement at $0.70.

The Energy Information Administration reported that US crude oil inventories surged 5.389 million barrels in the seven days through January 9th to 387.8 million, sharply exceeding analysts projections for a gain of around 0.42 million barrels. Supplies at the Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub jumped to 33.9 million barrels from 32.1 million a week earlier.

Moreover, US crude production rose by 60 000 barrels per day to 9.192 million bpd last week, hitting the highest level for weekly data dating back to January 1983. Imports rose by 636 000 bpd to 7.492 million, while the four-week average of inbound shipments was at 7.425 million barrels per day, 0.6% below year-ago levels.

Refinery utilization rates slid to 91.0% from 93.9% during the preceding week. Gasoline production increased, while distillate fuel output decreased, averaging 9.1 million and 5.1 million barrels per day, respectively.

Total motor gasoline inventories surged by 3.171 million barrels to 240.3 million, little below analysts projections for a jump of 3.47 million barrels. Distillate fuel inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, increased by 2.925 million barrels last week and reached 139.9 million, exceeding a projected 2.13-million gain.