Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil stocks likely rose by over 4 million barrels last week despite intensive production cuts by Saudi Arabia, petroleum industry group API indicated in a preliminary report on Tuesday ahead of official inventory data.
Inventories of gasoline and distillates, meanwhile, saw likely drops, according to the API, or the American Petroleum Institute.
The U.S. crude inventory balance possibly grew by 4.067M barrels during the week ended Aug 4, the API said.
In the prior week to July 28, the petroleum industry group reported a crude draw of 15.4M barrels.
The API numbers serve as a precursor to official inventory data on the same due from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, on Wednesday.
In the previous week, the EIA reported a record crude draw of 17.049M barrels, underscoring Saudi Arabia’s claims that it has taken an additional million barrels per day off its production since the start of July. The Saudis have pledged to keep up with such cuts through September.
Notwithstanding the broader crude stockpile gain it reported for last week, the API cited a slide of 0.112M barrels last week at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub that takes delivery of U.S. crude. In the prior week, the API reported a Cushing deficit of 1.76M barrels.
API reports draws for gasoline, distillates
On the fuels side, API reported a gasoline inventory drop of 0.413M barrels and a distillate stock slide of 2.093M barrels. In the previous week, it noted a 1.68M barrel draw for gasoline and 0.512M deficit for distillates.
With the API report out, anticipation builds on what the EIA will cite for last week’s oil supply-demand in the United States, and how that will impact crude prices that have been rallying the past six weeks.
For last week, analysts tracked by Investing.com expect the EIA to report a crude stockpile drop of 0.233M barrels, versus the historic 17.049-M barrel plunge reported during the week to July 28.
On the gasoline inventory front, the consensus is for a build of 0.217M barrels on top of the 1.48M-barrel gain in the previous week. Automotive fuel gasoline is the No. 1 U.S. fuel product.
With distillate stockpiles, the expectation is for a drop of 0.167M barrels versus the prior week’s drop of 0.796M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships and fuel for jets.