EIA reported a draw of -4715 MBbls in U.S. crude-oil inventories for the week ending 12/17/2021. This was larger than the average estimate of -2979 MBbls as reported by Bloomberg.
Prices were down five minutes following the announcement, to $71.41, from $71.60 just before 9:30am.
Inventories for the US are now at a deficit of 76.525 MBbls to last year and a deficit of 38.49 MBbls to the five-year average.
