WTI Extends Losses After Second Weekly Surprise Crude Build

Oil prices tumbled today on the heels of Saudi production headlines (supply) and Trump’s negative tone towards China (demand), however, not everyone was buying what the Saudis were selling.

“The current timetable is overly optimistic,” said Joe McMonigle, an analyst at Hedgeye Risk Management and former vice chairman of the International Energy Agency. The kingdom probably won’t achieve full capacity “until the end of the year at the earliest.”

So once again all eyes (and algos) will be on the inventory data…

API

• Crude +1.38mm (-600k exp)

• Cushing +2.3mm

• Gasoline +1.9mm

• Distillates -2.2mm

After last week’s surprise crude and gasoline inventory build, analysts have shrunk their estimates for the latest week but were wrong again as API reported a surprise 1.38mm barrel rise in crude inventories. Cushing saw a major rise in stocks…

Source: Bloomberg

WTI hovered around $57 ahead of the data, and extended losses after the second surprise build in a row…

Meanwhile, as Bloomberg details, cash-market San Francisco gasoline traded at near a seven-year high Tuesday and $4/gal retail gasoline “may be on the table” due to refinery issues, Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy petroleum analysis director, says.

Source: Bloomberg