Oil resumed a rally after an industry estimate pointed to a huge drawdown in US inventories, adding to signals the market is tightening.
West Texas Intermediate climbed above $82 a barrel, overturning Tuesday’s 0.5% loss. The American Petroleum Institute reported that nationwide crude stockpiles plunged 15.4 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the figures. If confirmed by government data later Wednesday, that would be the biggest draw in volumes terms in figures going back to 1982.
The API estimates also pointed to another drop in crude holdings at the key storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, as well as declines in inventories of gasoline and distillates. Separately, data from AlphaBBL also flagged a decline in oil at Cushing, the delivery point for the WTI futures contract.
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