Crude Oil Narrowly Mixed In Asia With Growing Focus On Refinery Turnarounds

Investing.com – Crude oil prices were narrowly mixed in Asia on Thursday with the market cautious as supplies grow from production and temporary lower demand as spring refinery maintenance gathers pace.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for March delivery rose 0.25% to $64.94 a barrel, while on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, eased 0.01% to $68.88 a barrel.

Overnight, crude oil prices settled higher shrugging off data showing US domestic oil supplies rose for the first time in 11 weeks and production rose above 10 million barrels per day in nearly half a century.

Inventories of US crude fell by rose 6.776 million barrels for the week ended Jan. 26, well above expectations for of a draw of 308,000 barrels. That was the biggest increase in US stockpiles in ten months.

Gasoline inventories – one of the products that crude is refined into – fell by 1.980 million barrels, confounding expectations for a build of 1.877 million barrels, while supplies of distillate – the class of fuels that includes diesel and – unexpectedly fell by 1.940 million barrels, a steeper fall than the 1.454 million barrels expected.

The sharp build in US oil supplies come as the spread between WTI crude and Brent continues to tighten, lessening demand for domestic crude exports, leading to a build in crude stockpiles.

production rose to 10.04 million barrels a day set in November 1970, according to data released by EIA on Wednesday. That level brings the US closer to world’s top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia.

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.