EIA stock data is out:
All of the above suggests one thing to us: floating storage may have been restocked last week and not – as some reports have suggested – offloaded due to a dissipating contango.
This certainly would explain the larger than expected crude draw in the face of unchanged refinery utilisation, and only a small rise in imports.
The build in gasoline, meanwhile, suggests higher gasoline prices at the pump may finally be beginning to affect demand, which explains the bearish crude oil reaction:
As for the smaller than expected distillate build, that could very well be down to the new practice of storing distillates on floating storage too.
Related links:
The big floating storage debate – FT Alphaville
‘Demand is in the toilet’ - FT Alphaville
Distillate hangover – FT Alphaville