NYMEX September crude futures settled $3.59 higher Wednesday at $82.89/barrel, boosted by an unexpected drop in US oil inventories reported in the Energy Information Administration's weekly oil data.
EIA reported a 7.719 million-barrel draw in US crude stocks, including commercial inventories falling 5.225 million barrels. Gasoline inventories declined 1.588 million barrels while stocks of middle distillates dropped 737,000 barrels.
Within the crude data, stocks at the NYMEX delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma, declined 1.372 million barrels to 34.581 million barrels, reflecting the narrow front spread in the futures curve and the lack of storage economics currently.
A rebound in equity markets by the close of open outcry pushed crude futures back toward the intra-session high of $83.14/b. The S&P 500 bounced 25.00 points off its intra-session low while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied back nearly 250 points after being down as much as 467 points.
September heating oil settled 10.05 cents higher at $2.8653/gal and September RBOB settled 11.49 cents higher at $2.7825/gal despite demand data that appears more supportive of middle distillates.
Gasoline demand on a four-week moving average at 9.122 million b/d was 323,000 b/d below year-ago levels while demand for middle distillates at 3.701 million b/d was 246,000 b/d above year-ago levels.
