Early this morning, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly crude oil inventory report. Data show that in the week ended January 7, U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 4.55 million barrels, falling for the seventh consecutive week and falling to a new low since October 2018. Crude oil inventory changes in Cushing fell by 2.468 million barrels.
After the data was released, WTI crude oil futures rose in the short term, reaching a maximum of 82.8 US dollars per barrel, and the overall increase during the day expanded to nearly 2%. As of early morning closing this morning, New York February crude oil futures closed up $1.42, or 1.75%, at $82.64/barrel; Brent March crude oil futures closed up $0.95, or 1.14%, at $84.67/barrel.
Analysts believe that as the market further eases concerns about Omicron, the price of oil (and gasoline) has rebounded above the level before the release of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve SPR. Taking into account the lag in the supply chain, it shows that the price of gas stations Gasoline prices are about to start rising again.
Data show that in the week to January 7, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) inventory fell by 300,000 barrels to 593 million barrels last week, a decrease of 0.05%, the lowest since the week of November 15, 2002. U.S. crude oil exports fell by 599,000 barrels per day last week to 1.955 million barrels per day.
According to foreign media reports, the U.S. Department of Energy has approved the fourth release of 870,000 barrels of crude oil from strategic reserves for trading with Royal Dutch Shell.
Bloomberg senior energy analyst Vince Piazza analyzed that although OPEC+ promised to increase production in January and February, its actual increase in production may be less than its planned increase. Meanwhile, cold weather temporarily disrupted oil production.
It is worth noting that U.S. natural gas futures surged 14.31% yesterday to close at $4.8570/million British thermal units, the highest level since November last year. U.S. weather forecasts show colder weather in major East Coast population centers, and a winter storm is expected to hit the South this weekend, potentially boosting heating demand.
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