Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by more than expected last week, according to data released on Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.
Inventories for the week ending August 8 fell by 4.5 million barrels, compared to expectations for a draw of 2.9 million barrels. The data are consistent with Tuesday's report from the American Petroleum Institute, which estimated last week's draw to be 4.4 million barrels.
That's less than the 7.4 million barrel draw seen last week but various newswire reports have suggested that the numbers could understated actual demand from end users, in as much as over 2 million barrels of crude was shifted from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to commercial stocks last week.
Stocks of gasoline and distillates also fell by slightly more than expected.
As a result, crude prices were barely moved by the release. At 10:45 AM ET (1445 GMT), U.S. crude prices were up 2.1% at $42.47 a barrel, while Brent crude prices were up 1.8% at $45.29 a barrel.
Prices had been supported throughout the day by a rebound in risk assets after Tuesday's sharp sell-off. A 0.6% increase in the U.S. consumer price index last month helped to reassure market participants that the Federal Reserve's efforts to reflate the economy were still on track, despite lingering doubts over the fate of the current round of fiscal stimulus measures, which remain deadlocked.
" A third of the rise in the CPI can be attributed to a second month of price increases at the gas pump," Grant Thornton chief economist Diane Swonk said in emailed comments.
Earlier in the day, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had fractionally revised its expectations for global oil demand lower in its monthly report for August. OPEC now expects average global consumption this year to fall by 9.06 million barrels a day, compared to the drop of 8.95 million b/d it forecast last month. At the same time, it also expects global supply from outside OPEC to increase between now and the year-end.