By Kim Khan
Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles rose more than the market was expecting last week, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday.
Oil inventories climbed by 7.5 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 7, the EIA said. Analysts were looking for a build of about 3 million barrels, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.
Gasoline inventories fell by 95,000 barrels, versus expectations for a rise of about 550,000 barrels. Distillate stockpiles fell by 2 million barrels, compared with forecasts for a decline of about 560,000 barrels.
WTI futures pared gains, rising 2.3%. They were up about 3.5% right before the numbers came out.
OPEC projected earlier today that the coronavirus crisis will cut 200,000 bpd of demand for its own oil.
“We're up about 3% on both the crude benchmarks as the market seems fixated on the possibility that the epidemic is slowing down in China, which is debatable given to Beijing's tweak in how it's accounting for the infected,” Investing.com analyst Barani Krishnan said.
“Also, there are still hopes that Russia will end up agreeing to production cuts with the Saudis and OPEC,” Krishan said. “We do have better-than-expected numbers on fuel stockpiles, but unless we have solid evidence of a turnaround in crude demand or oncoming cuts in the next 48 hours, these gains might not be sustainable.”