Crude Oil Prices Settle Higher as Crude Supplies Fall for 4th Straight Week

Investing.com – Crude oil prices settled higher on Wednesday as investors cheered data showing U.S. crude stockpiles fell more-than-expected for the fourth straight week easing concerns over an expected uptick in domestic production.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange for November delivery rose by 16 cents to settle at $52.04 a barrel, while on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, added 25 cents to trade at $58.13 a barrel.

Crude oil prices continued their bullish to the week after a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude stockpiles fell-more-than-expected but an uptick in gasoline supplies limited upside momentum.

Inventories of U.S. crude fell by roughly 5.7m barrels in the week ended Oct. 13, beating expectations of 4.2m barrels.

Gasoline inventories, one of the products that crude is refined into, by roughly 908,000 barrels, well above expectations of a draw of 256,000 barrels while distillate stockpiles by about 528,000 barrels, missing expectations of a decline of 1.45m barrels.

The uptick in supplies of refinery products such as gasoline comes amid a traditional slowdown in refinery activity as refiners undergo seasonal maintenance.

Also supporting an uptick in crude prices were signs of tightening in U.S. output despite ongoing concerns that rising crude prices would encourage domestic .

The EIA data also showed drop of nearly 1.1 million barrels a day in U.S. production from the lower 48 States, putting total output at 7.9 million barrels a day.

Elsewhere investors continued to monitor the possibility of supply disruptions amid ongoing political uncertainty in Iraq following conflict between Iraqi and Kurdish forces earlier in the week.

The majority Kurdish region of Northern Iraq exports nearly 600,000 barrels of oil a day. Kurdish forces on Tuesday pulled out of disputed areas in region after Iraqi forces ceased control of the oil rich city of Kirkuk.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.