Crude oil prices recovered on Wednesday morning despite word from the Energy Information Administration of an inventory draw of 3.6 million barrels for the week to December 24.
At 420 million barrels, crude oil inventories remain 7% below the five-year average—compared to 8% below the five-year average last week.
On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute estimated a crude oil inventory draw of 3.09 million barrels for the week to December 24.
In gasoline, the API reported a draw of 319,000 barrels, with a decline of 716,000 in distillates.
Gasoline inventories decreased by 1.5 million barrels in the reporting period, according to the EIA, which compared with a build of 5.5 million barrels for the previous week.
Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 10.1 million bpd, compared with 9.9 million bpd in the previous week.
In middle distillates, the EIA estimated an inventory draw of 1.7 million barrels for the week to December 24, which compared with an increase of 400,000 barrels for the previous week.
Middle distillate production increased last week, averaging 4.9 million barrels per day, which compared with 4.9 million bpd in the prior week.
Oil prices remain under pressure from concerns about the new coronavirus strain, Omicron, which has triggered fresh restrictions in certain countries.
At 9:49 a.m. EDT, crude oil prices were trading down on the day, with WTI crude trading at $75.72, down $0.26 (0.34%) on the day, and Brent crude trading at $78.76, down $0.18 per barrel (0.23%).
Post data release, Brent crude was trading at $79.05 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $76.08 per barrel.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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