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Oil futures were edging higher Wednesday as investors await a round of U.S. inventory figures that are expected to show a further rise in crude supplies as storage space dwindles.
West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery CL.1, +15.72% rose $2.03, or 16.5%, to $14.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. July Brent crude BRNN20, +4.00% , the global benchmark, was up 95 cents, or 4.2%, at $23.69 a barrel on ICE Europe.
A weekly report by an energy industry trade group late Wednesday showed a drawdown in gasoline stocks, analysts said, providing support for beaten-down U.S. oil futures, which remain on track for a monthly decline of more than 30% based on the most active contract, as the COVID-19 pandemic has sapped demand for crude and products.
The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies rose by 9.98 million barrels for the week ended April 24, according to sources. The API data also showed gasoline stockpiles down by 1.1 million barrels, they said, while distillate inventories rose by 5.5 million barrels.
The data “hinted at the first gasoline stock draw in several weeks, a signal which optimistic market observers tend to like,” wrote analysts at JBC Energy, a Vienna-based consulting firm. They cautioned, however, that a shift in the U.S. gasoline trade balance by as much as 800,000 barrels a day relative to last year could make the numbers deceiving.
More closely followed inventory data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday. The EIA data are expected to show crude inventories rose by 9.8 million barrels last week, according to analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. They also forecast a supply increases of 2.9 million barrels for gasoline and 4.3 million barrels for distillates.
