Oil – private survey of inventory shows a headline crude oil drawdown of -3.4M barrels

The numbers via oilprice.com on Twitter:

The EIA estimates to be released tomorrow at 10:30 AM show:

• Crude oil drawdown of -2.265 million barrels
• Gasoline inventories drawdown of -1.587 million
• Distillates drawdown of -1.083 million

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This data point is from a privately-conducted survey by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

• It’s a survey of oil storage facilities and companies
• The official report is due Wednesday morning US time.

The two reports are quite different.The official government data comes from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA)

• Its based on data from the Department of Energy and other government agencies
• Whereas information on total crude oil storage levels and variations from the previous week’s levels are both provided by the API report, the EIA report also provides statistics on inputs and outputs from refineries, as well as other significant indicators of the status of the oil market, and storage levels for various grades of crude oil, such as light, medium, and heavy.
• the EIA report is held to be more accurate and comprehensive than the survey from the API

The price of WTI crude oil is trading at $75.82. The high price today reached $77.44. The low price was at $75.43. Technically, the price remained below its 200-day moving average at $77.80. Staying below the 200-day moving average keeps the sellers in play – and in control – at least from the perspective of the daily chart.

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.