The EIA reported a draw of -6,873 MBbls in U.S. crude-oil inventories. The draw was larger than the average estimate of -379 as reported by Bloomberg.
Prices were down in the five minutes following the announcement, to $70.32 from $70.45 just before 10:00 AM.
Inventories for the U.S. are now at a surplus of 0.80 MMBbls (0.2%) to last year, and a deficit of 19.20 MMBbls (-4.4%) to the five-year average.
