FYI: Although it is typical for crude oil inventories to decline at this time of year, this week’s decline was much larger than consensus expectations. While traders were expecting crude oil stockpiles to fall by 1.6 million barrels, the actual reported decline from the DoE was more than twice that at 4.346 million barrels. As shown in the chart below, crude oil inventories are still well above their historical averages since both 1983 and over the last ten years. In fact, for the current week of the year, crude stockpiles are 126 million barrels, or 36%, above their average since 1983.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bespokepremium.com/think-big-blog/crude-oil-inventories-fall-more-than-expected/
