Oil prices continued to rise as the US market opened on Wednesday, extending gains for the fifth straight day, as the US crude hit a 3-year high and Brent hit a 2-year high, following a large drop in the US crude inventories according to preliminary data, and ahead of the EIA's official report.
US crude rose 0.5% to the highest since October 2018 at $72.80 a barrel, after opening at $72.44, and hit a high at $72.19, and Brent crude rose 0.7% to the highest since April 2019 at $74.72 a barrel, after opening at $74.24, and hit a low at $74.08.
The US crude gained 1.8% yesterday, and Brent crude rose 1.6% in the third straight daily gain, thanks to a strong global demand outlook during the second half of 2021 and growing odds for a market supply deficit.
The American Petroleum Institute reported today in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell 8.5 million barrels during the week ending June 11, while analysts forecast a drop by 4.2 million barrels.
The total US commercial inventories fell to 472.8 million barrels, which is the lowest level since the week ending March 27, 2020, in a positive sign of the US domestic demand.
The US Energy Information Administration's official data will be released later today, amid forecasts for inventories to drop by 2.1 million barrels.
While the US output rose by 200K barrels per day last week, with the total at 11.0 million barrels per day.