The EIA reported a draw of -600 MBbls in U.S. crude-oil inventories. The draw was smaller than the average estimate of -2,123 as reported by Bloomberg.
Prices were down in the five minutes following the announcement, to $79.09 from $79.43 just before 09:30 AM.
Inventories for the U.S. are now at a surplus of 34.10 MMBbls (8.1%) to last year, and a surplus of 8.90 MMBbls (2.0%) to the five-year average.
