API forecasts a modest rise in US crude stocks – Trading Economics

US commercial crude inventories gained 509,000 bbls in the week ended 3 May, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API) estimates cited by Trading Economics.

PHOTO: A silhouette of an oil pump jack with the US flag in the background. Getty Images

This week’s data marked the “smallest weekly gain in [US] crude oil inventories since early March,” Trading Economics noted.

Oil market analysts were expecting a draw of around 1.4 million bbls in the week.

“[Brent] crude futures were extending Tuesday’s modest losses early Wednesday…following a somewhat bearish US oil stocks report from the American Petroleum Institute,” VANDA Insights’ founder and analyst Vandana Hari said.

Last week, the US-headquartered body reported a rise of 4.9 million bbls in US crude oil inventories in its Weekly Statistical Bulletin that tracks crude stock builds in the US.

The US Energy Information Administration's (EIA) official data that came out later that day showed a rise of 7.27 million bbls in crude stocks to 461 million bbls during the same time. The broadly followed US government data on crude oil stockpiles from the EIA is due later today.

By Aparupa Mazumder 

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