(New York) US crude oil stocks recorded a surprise increase last week, according to figures released Wednesday by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), a lag linked to a statistical adjustment.
During the week ended May 17, these commercial reserves increased by 1.8 million barrels, while analysts expected, on average, a drop of 2 million, according to a consensus established by the Bloomberg agency.
The EIA carried out a statistical catch-up, which added some 9.6 million barrels to the volumes arriving on the American market during the week in question.
These corrections are made to compensate for approximations during previous periods and have no relation to the activity of the week ending May 17.
As a result, the increase in crude oil stocks in the United States is a sham, because last week the rate of production at American refineries accelerated, to 91.7% of capacity, compared to 90.4% for the previous period, the highest for four months.
Furthermore, the quantity of products delivered to the American market, an implicit indicator of demand, has remained stable.
The demand for gasoline, closely followed by operators, has finally recovered. After six consecutive weeks below the symbolic threshold of 9 million barrels per day, it reached 9.3 million.
Another development in the direction of strengthening demand, crude exports jumped 14% over one week.
Gasoline stocks contracted by one million barrels, a less marked drop than the 1.37 million barrels announced by analysts.
US crude production remained unchanged at 13.1 million barrels per day.
The publication of the EIA allowed black gold prices to recover, despite the increase in commercial stocks.
Around 10:55 a.m., after dropping up to 1.66%, a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in July only lost 0.76%, to $78.06.