Oil futures traded modestly lower Thursday, pressured after a U.S. government report revealed that domestic crude supplies climbed for a fifth week in a row, but finding some support after news of a tentative Brexit deal offered a lift for assets perceived as risky, including oil.
West Texas Intermediate crude CLX19, -0.79% for November delivery declined 3 cents, or 0.06%, to $53.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while December Brent BRNZ19, -1.13% was off 38 cents, or 0.6%, at $59.04 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
The Energy Information Administration on Thursday reported that U.S. crude supplies climbed for a fifth week in a row, by 9.3 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 11. Data were released a day late because of Monday’s U.S. Columbus Day holiday.
Crude supplies were forecast to increase by 4 million barrels, according to analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. The American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday reported a climb of 10.5 million barrels, according to sources.
“Inventories have built by a whopping 9.3 million barrels, led by the refinery utilization rate dropping to its lowest since hurricane Harvey in September 2017,” said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData.
“A release of 1.3 million barrels from the [Strategic Petroleum Reserve] has only rubbed salt into the wounds of the bulls, adding to today’s crude build,” he said. “One saving grace for the bulls is that the drop to such a lowly level of refining activity has helped to encourage solid draws to both gasoline and distillate inventories.”
The EIA data showed supply declines of 2.6 million barrels for gasoline and 3.8 million barrels for distillates. The S&P Global Platts survey showed expectations for supply decreases of nearly 1.8 million barrels for gasoline and 2.6 million barrels for distillates. November West Texas Intermediate crude CLX21, -52.21% was down 33 cents, or 0.6%, to $53.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down from $53.09 before the supply data.
November gasoline RBX19, -1.69% fell 0.4% to $1.6179 a gallon, while November heating oil HOX19, -1.13% was down 0.3% at $1.9367 a gallon.
Brent crude-oil futures BRNZ19, -1.13% had trimmed losses early Thursday, following a low at $58.70, after U.K. and European Union leaders announced a tentative Brexit deal, though the pact must be approved by the British parliament and other EU member states. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a tough task in winning approval.
The unexpected announcement provided a lift for assets perceived as risky, including European equities and U.S. benchmark stock indexes.
Meanwhile, natural-gas futures held onto earlier gains after the EIA on Thursday reported that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 104 billion cubic feet for the week ended Oct. 11. That was a bit lower than the average build of 108 billion cubic feet expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts.
November natural gas NGX19, +0.39% rose 3.9 cents, or 1.7%, to $2.342 per million British thermal units.