EIA: Crude inventories down by 3.8 million barrels

Crude oil prices were higher Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration reported that stockpiles were down by 3.8 million barrels to 318.8 million barrels in the week ending 14 September.

Near the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for October deliver had added 42 cents over Tuesday’s close to $81.93 per barrel, while Brent crude was up 41 cents to $78.49 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.

Besides the inventory report, prices were also supported by reports that Total (Euronext: FP; NYSE: TOT), BP (LSE: BP; NYSE: BP; TYO: 5051) and Shell (LSE: RDSA, RDSB; NYSE: RDS.A, RDS.B) had all removed non-essential personnel from their oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico due to weather concerns.

While crude oil stockpiles were down significantly, gasoline inventories were up by 400,000 barrels last week and distillates, which includes heating oil and diesel fuel, added 1.5 million barrels to storage.

Refinery usage was lower on the week, operating at 89.6 percent of capacity, likely at least partly due to shutdowns at some Texas refineries related to Hurricane Humberto.

Nymex October gasoline was up 3 cents to $2.09 per gallon, while November heating oil traded even at $2.26 per gallon and November natural gas was down 32 cents to $6.91 per million British thermal units.