Crude oil inventories for the latest week fell by 219K barrels, but the decline was less than consensus forecasts calling for a decline of 2 million barrels. This week's decline was also less than the seasonal decline that we typically see at this time of year. As a result, even though inventories declined, relative to the historical average they are higher this week than last week.
While gasoline inventories were forecast to decline by one million barrels this week, actual inventories rose by 1.658 million barrels. Given the fact that inventories typically decline at this time of year, current gasoline stockpiles are now higher relative to average than they have been at any other point since the second week of January.
