According to EIA, U.S. crude oil inventories sharply increased, exceeding expectations

As shown in data provided by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its weekly report, there was a sharp increase in the U.S. crude oil inventories by about three times, thus exceeding the forecasts of experts. At the same time, the levels of gasoline and distillate drawdowns were lower than expected.

According to the EIA report, the expected increase of crude oil stocks was about 1.36 million barrels, while the actual data shown that the U.S. crude stockpiles grew by 3.925 million barrels during the previous week.

As for distillate stocks, there was an actual drop by 0.521 million barrels last week, while the expected fall was estimated to be about 0.8 million barrels. A week before that, distillate stocks grew by 0.427 million.

The report also demonstrated a drawdown in gasoline stockpiles by 0.899 million barrels, all the while the projected fall was by 1.08 million. The previous period shown a drawdown in gasoline stocks by 1.257 million.

Besides that, the level of gasoline consumption increased last week, reaching the 9.011 million barrels per day. For comparison, the level of consumption a week before that was 8.66 million barrels per day. 

Nevertheless, some other important indicators of the sphere turned out to be disappointing, crude exports and production levels in particular, as it was noted by Barani Krishnan, analyst from Investing.com. 

As it was said by Krishnan, the overall sentiment of the EIA report was rather bearish, excluding the weekly drawdown of gasoline and its consumption at a level of more than 9 million barrels per day.

Executive director at the Paris-based IEA Faith Birol also commented on the actual situation in the oil industry, saying that the oil prices fluctuating at about $100 per barrel are posing some real risks for the global economy.

He also added that further strengthening of inflation and overall weakening of the world economy might get worse under the condition of OPEC+ production cuts.