Daily Times

According to the Energy Information Administration, commercial crude stockpiles in the United States increased by 4.5m barrels in the week ending July 29 to around 426.6m barrels. Stocks are now 6.7pc behind the five-year average, down from 7.7pc the previous week. The American Petroleum Institute reported a 2.17m barrel increase in US oil supply in the week ending July 29, while experts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights projected a 1.7m -barrel drop. Notably, the EIA report revealed a 4.7-million-barrel pull from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, implying that total US oil stockpiles fell 200,000 barrels to 896.6m barrels, a new 18-year low. NYMEX September RBOB gasoline was down 5.90 cents to $2.9977/gal on the NYMEX, while September ULSD was up 3.83 cents to $3.4187/gal. Oil markets were already volatile overnight due to increased US-China tensions following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on August 2. Beijing has aggressively denounced the visit and announced a series of military drills near Taiwan in the following days.