Oil prices retreated on Tuesday following a bigger than anticipated build in US crude oil inventories last week reported by the American Petroleum Institute. According to API, US crude stockpiles rose by 4.680 million barrels last week with storage at Cushing climbing by 632,000 during the same period, erasing more than half the drawdown experience over the summer months. This contrasts sharply with an expected drawdown in the headline figure ahead of official data due from the US Department of Energy later in the session. Furthermore, gasoline stockpiles rose by 4.905 million barrels last week, marking the biggest increase since January and highlighting the lingering potential for storage facilities to rapidly fill. While market speculators have never been longer Brent crude oil according to figures reported by ICE last week, it could imply a sharp reversal lower in prices if EIA data corroborates the API figures.
Oil Back on the Retreat
Daily Analysis - 14/12/2016