U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 2.3 million barrels in the week ending Jan. 24, according to new data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The decline left commercial stockpiles at 423.8 million barrels, 3% below the five-year average for the period, according to government data.

The EIA data release followed API figures released a day earlier that suggested a decline in crude oil inventories. 247,000 barrels.

Oil prices rose Wednesday morning as geopolitical risk premiums continued to worsen as U.S. supplies perceive disruptions related to the actual winter storm. 8:45 a.m. in New York, brent was trading at $68.11 per barrel, up $0.54 (+0.80%) on the day and more than $3 per barrel from the previous week. WTI was up $0.61 (+0.98%) per barrel in early trading to trade at $63 per barrel.

For total motor gasoline, EIA reported that inventories increased by 200,000 barrels, after increasing by 6 million barrels the previous week. According to the latest statistics, average gasoline production per day has increased to 9.6 million barrels. For middle distillates, inventories increased by 300,000 barrels and production decreased by 268,000 barrels per day to an average of 4.8 million barrels per day.

Product supply, which represents U.S. oil demand, increased to 20.3 million barrels per day over the past four weeks, down 0.1% from a year earlier. Gasoline demand averaged 8.3 million barrels per day over the past four weeks, while four-week average supply of distillate averaged 3.7 million barrels per day, down 4.8% year over year.

Written by Julianne Geiger, Oilprice.com

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