West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude plunged on Wednesday after data by the Energy Information Administration showed that US crude oil inventories rose to the highest in at least 80 years, while crude output hit a new record as well.
US crude for delivery in April traded 1.31% lower at $49.86 per barrel at 15:34 GMT, shifting in a daily range of $51.18-$49.79. The contract gained 1.9% on Tuesday to $50.52.
Meanwhile on the ICE, Brent for settlement in the same month was down 2.34% at $59.59 a barrel, holding in a daily range of $60.94-$59.47. The European benchmark crude gained 2.5% yesterday to $61.02, settling at a premium of $10.50 to its US counterpart. The gap narrowed to $9.73 on Wednesday.
The EIA reported that US crude oil inventories jumped by 10.303 million barrels in the week ended February 27th to 444.4 million, sharply exceeding analysts projections for a gain of 4.16 million barrels. Supplies at the Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub rose to 49.2 million barrels from 48.7 million a week earlier.
US crude oil output rose by 39 000 barrels per day to 9.324 million bpd, the highest on weekly records dating back to January 1983. Crude imports rose by 89 000 bpd to 7.368 million, while the four-week average of inbound shipments stood at 7.260 million bpd, 1.6% below year-ago levels.
Refineries operated at 86.6% of their operable capacity last week, down from 87.4% the previous week, with both gasoline and distillate fuel output decreasing, to 9.5 and 4.6 million barrels per day, respectively.
Motor gasoline inventories rose by 0.046 million barrels to 240.1 million, defying analysts forecasts for a drop of 1.87 million barrels. Distillate fuel inventories declined by 1.722 million barrels to 123.0 million, trailing projections for a drop of 2.69 million barrels.
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