The EIA reported a draw of -846 MBbls in U.S. crude-oil inventories. The draw was smaller than the average estimate of -2,521 as reported by Bloomberg.
Prices were up in the five minutes following the announcement, to $74.67 from $74.19 just before 09:30 AM.
Inventories for the U.S. are now at a surplus of 0.70 MMBbls (0.2%) to last year, and a deficit of 15.70 MMBbls (-3.6%) to the five-year average.
