EIA: US Crude Oil Stocks Slump To February 2015 Low

U.S. crude oil stocks fell by nearly 13 million barrels last week, the most in nearly two years, dropping overall crude stocks to their lowest point since February 2015, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said July 11.

Crude inventories fell by 12.6 million barrels in the week to July 6, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 4.5 million barrels. That dropped overall crude inventories, not including the U.S. strategic reserve, to 405.2 million barrels.

Oil prices rebounded from losses on the news. The decline in overall inventories was partially due to a fall-off in stocks at the Cushing, Okla., delivery hub for U.S. crude futures, which were down by 2.1 million barrels. An outage at Syncrude facility in Canada has reduced the flow of synthetic crude from Canada, sapping stocks in Cushing.