Tausi Insider

U.S. crude stockpiles fell, but gasoline and distillate inventories both rose substantially, alleviating a bit of concern about market tightness, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories fell by 3.7 million barrels in the week to Nov. 18 to 431.7 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.1 million-barrel drop. The decline in inventories was tempered by another release of barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The White House decided earlier this year to release 180 million SPR crude barrels after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused global prices to surge. Those sales are now largely finished, leaving the SPR at its lowest levels since 1984, and raising concerns about more market tightness in coming months. Refinery crude runs rose by 258,000 barrels per day in the last week, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy said. Refinery utilization rates rose by 1 percentage point to 93.9 of tota...

Benchmark Brent oil edged lower on Thursday while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude held steady, hovering in sight of two-month lows as the level of a proposed G7 cap on the price of Russian oil raised doubts about how much it would limit supply. A bigger-than-expected build in U.S. gasoline inventories and widening COVID-19 controls in China also added downward pressure on crude prices. Brent crude futures were down 29 cents, or 0.3%, to $85.12 a barrel by 15.15 p.m. ET (2015 GMT), while U.S. WTI crude futures rose 2 cents, to $77.96. Trading volumes were thin because of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Both benchmarks plunged more than 3% on Wednesday on news the planned price cap on Russian oil could be above the current market level. European Union governments remained split over what level to cap Russian oil prices at to curb Moscow’s ability to pay for its war in Ukraine without causing a global oil supply shock, with more talks possible on Friday if positions c...