Oil stabilizer as China moves to withdraw from crude stocks

Follow-up - INA

Oil prices stabilized today, Thursday, with China announcing that it will take an unprecedented step by drawing from government crude oil reserves to relieve pressure on domestic refiners, which will reduce demand from elsewhere.

Brent crude fell two years to $72.58 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose by the same margin to $69.32 a barrel.

The data from the American Petroleum Institute revealed that the withdrawal from crude stocks in the week ending on the third of September was less than what Reuters expected in an opinion poll, but the withdrawal from gasoline and distillate stocks was greater than expected.

The US Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that US crude production is expected to decline by 200,000 barrels per day in 2021 to 11.8 million barrels per day, noting that Hurricane Ida will cause a greater decline than previous expectations of a production decline of 160,000 barrels per day.

But prices were pressured by the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reducing the forecast growth in global oil demand in 2021, with limited changes to its estimate of growth in 2022.