US crude oil inventories declined by 4.93 million barrels in the week ending October 16th, far exceeding market expectations for a draw of 1.3 million barrels. This followed an even larger decrease of 11.12 million barrels in the previous week. Gasoline inventories fell by 2 million barrels, and distillate stocks were down by 2.6 million barrels.
At Cushing, Oklahoma—the delivery point for the WTI crude futures contract—stockpiles increased by 900,000 barrels, after a prior weekly build of 1.823 million barrels. Meanwhile, US oil production fell to 13.679 million barrels per day in the week ending October 9th, from 13.979 million barrels per day a week earlier.
