US commercial crude inventories fell 8.6 million barrels in the week ending October 9 to 415.6 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday, leaving stocks 3 percent above the five year average for the time of year. The American Petroleum Institute had reported a larger 11.12 million barrel draw a day earlier.
The product detail matters more than the headline. Gasoline inventories rose 3.5 million barrels on production averaging 9.2 million barrels a day, while distillate inventories fell 2.5 million barrels and now sit 12 percent below the five year average, with distillate production averaging 5.2 million barrels a day. Total products supplied, a proxy for US oil demand, averaged 21.1 million barrels a day over four weeks, up 2 percent from a year earlier.
Futures did not follow the draw in a straight line on Thursday morning, with Brent lower and WTI higher in the reporting, a reminder that in this market the inventory signal competes daily with war headlines, freight costs and the Russian diesel question.