API reports a draw in US crude inventories – Trading Economics

US crude oil inventories fell by 4.6 million bbls in the week ending 18 April, according to American Petroleum Institute (API) estimates cited by Trading Economics.

IMAGE: Oil pump jack along with the US flag in the background. Getty Images

This week’s data marked the “second inventory draw in the past four weeks and represented the largest decline since late March,” Trading Economics noted.

Notably, a drop in US crude stocks typically indicates higher demand and can lend some support to Brent's price.

“Numbers from the American Petroleum Institute (API) overnight were also constructive,” two analysts from ING Bank noted.

Last week, the US-headquartered energy body reported a 2.4 million-bbl rise in US crude oil inventories in its Weekly Statistical Bulletin, which tracks crude stock changes in the US.

The broadly followed US government data on crude stockpiles from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due later today.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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