The EIA reported a draw of -708 MBbls in U.S. crude-oil inventories. The draw was smaller than the average estimate of -2,369 as reported by Bloomberg.
Prices were down in the five minutes following the announcement, to $76.28 from $76.48 just before 09:30 AM.
Inventories for the U.S. are now at a surplus of 30.70 MMBbls (7.2%) to last year, and a surplus of 4.90 MMBbls (1.1%) to the five-year average.
