Oil Up, Investors Digest Fifth Week of U.S. Crude Stockpile Draws

Oil was up Thursday morning in Asia, with continuously shrinking U.S. crude and fuel supplies contributing to the brightening fuel demand outlook.

Brent oil futures inched up 0.05% to $75.23 by 1:17 AM ET (5:17 AM GMT) and WTI futures were steady at $73.08.

U.S. crude oil supply data from the U.S Energy Information Administration said stockpiles fell for a fifth week, the longest run since January 2021.

The data showed a draw of 7.641 million barrels for the week ended Jun. 18. The draw was bigger than the 3.942-million-barrel draw in forecasts prepared by Investing.com as well as the 7.355-million-barrel draw recorded during the previous week.

Gasoline inventories also recorded a bigger-than-expected draw of 2.93 million barrels

Crude oil supply from the American Petroleum Institute released the day before showed a draw of 7.199 million barrels for the week ending Jun. 18.

The continuous draws are indicative of a market that is tightening as the U.S., China and parts of Europe continue their economic recovery from COVID-19.

The global COVID-19 vaccine rollout has also played a part in this accelerated recovery, which in turn led to increased fuel consumption and a drain in stockpiles that had built up as COVID-19 brought lockdowns and halted travel in early 2020.

Investors now await an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) meeting. The cartel will discuss its production policy for August when it meets in the following week, with some member states reportedly looking to vote for an output increase.