The EIA reported a draw of -515 MBbls in U.S. crude-oil inventories. In contrast, the market expected a build of +1,374 MBbls as reported by Bloomberg.
Prices were down in the five minutes following the announcement, to $68.24 from $68.25 just before 09:30 AM.
Inventories for the U.S. are now at a surplus of 3.70 MMBbls (0.9%) to last year, and a deficit of 19.00 MMBbls (-4.3%) to the five-year average.
