Oil prices fell Wednesday after the U.S. government reported a rise across the board and petroleum product stockpiles.
WTI futures fell 1% at 11:30 AM ET (16:30 GMT).
Global benchmark Brent dropped 0.85%.
The EIA said oil inventories rose 1.572 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 22, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decline of 418,000, according to forecasts compiled by .
“While imports did go up a little, refining is steady at near 90% of capacity,” analyst Barani Krishnan said. “So, as much as the bulls would like to create a narrative here, they haven’t got the numbers yet for it.”
“After last week’s slight miss on the crude build numbers, this week, the market has completely missed the direction on the crude storage,” Krishnan said.
Gasoline inventories jumped by about 5.1 million barrels, versus expectations for a rise of about 1.2 million barrels. Distillate stockpiles were in line with a rise of 725,000 barrels, compared with forecasts for a rise of 750,000 barrels.
“To me, the more important numbers to watch are the distillate stockpiles, which are up for the first time in 10 weeks, indicating that perhaps the worst of the crunch from IMO 2020 (reducing marine sector emissions) may be ending,” Krishan said.
“Of course, none of these fundamentals might matter if the market remains obsessed with the trade deal, which Trump says are in their “final throes”, whatever that is supposed to mean,” he added.
