The EIA reported a draw of -452 MBbls in U.S. crude-oil inventories. In contrast, the market expected a build of +350 MBbls as reported by Bloomberg.
Prices were down in the five minutes following the announcement, to $72.76 from $72.82 just before 09:30 AM.
Inventories for the U.S. are now at a surplus of 42.70 MMBbls (10.3%) to last year, and a deficit of 10.10 MMBbls (-2.2%) to the five-year average.
