Oil futures on Thursday were set to log their highest settlement in about two weeks, after U.S. government data revealed the largest drop in crude supplies since 1999.
The 14.5 million-barrel decline reported by the Energy Information Administration was even larger than the surprise 12.1 million-barrel drop reported by the American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday. Ahead of both reports, analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expected a 425,000-barrel climb.
“The large draw in crude oil inventory was driven by a large decline this week in crude oil imports, primarily weather-related, while refinery runs continued to be quite strong,” Robert Merriam, manager of Petroleum Supply Statistics at the EIA, told MarketWatch.
Oil prices also found support from data from China showed another big increase in the country’s crude imports.
October West Texas Intermediate crude CLV6, +4.62% added $1.83, or 4%, to $47.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. November Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange LCOX6, +4.09% rose $1.82, or 3.8%, to $49.80 a barrel.
A settlement around these levels for both crudes would be the highest since Aug. 26, according to FactSet data.
“Crude supply was down dramatically on lower imports,” said James Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics. “Imports fell because of ships delayed” by last week’s storm.
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