By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Oil was down Thursday morning in Asia, but retained most of Wednesday’s gains, after a larger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude oil stocks in the U.S. gave the black liquid a boost.
Brent oil futures inched down 0.01% to $75.45 by 10:37 PM ET (2:37 AM GMT) and WTI futures inched down 0.04% to $72.58. Both Brent and WTI futures remained above the $70 mark.
Crude oil and fuel stockpiles dropped sharply during the past week as refiners in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and oil facilities offshore have yet to complete their recovery from Hurricane Ida’s impact, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
The EIA data showed a draw of 6.422 million barrels, much bigger than the 3.544-million-barrel draw in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and the previous week’s 1.529-million-barrel draw.
Crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute, released the day before, showed a draw of 5.437 million barrels.
"The data follow warnings from the International Energy Agency that supply lost from storms in the Gulf of Mexico would offset gains from OPEC," ANZ Research analysts said in a note.
Although the shutdown caused by Ida triggered a global decline in supply for the first time in five months, the market is expected to begin balancing in October as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, or OPEC+, continue with its plan to increase supply.
However, companies in the Gulf of Mexico were able to quickly restore pipeline service and electricity after the more recent Hurricane Nicolas caused minor flooding and power outages in Texas and Louisiana. They have thus been able to concentrate on efforts to repair the far more significant damage from the category-4 Ida.
About 30% of the Gulf of Mexico’s production remained shut as of Wednesday, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.