Petroleum futures are trading higher Thursday as an across-the-board drawdown in crude and refined product inventories and economic optimism spurred buying of energy contracts.
The most active Nymex August West Texas Intermediate contract was ahead by around 20cts to $80.9/bbl and the front-month July WTI contract was up by 30cts to $81.85/bbl.
London-based ICE Brent crude for August delivery rose 30cts to $85.35/bbl and the September Brent contract was 25cts higher at $84.55/bbl.
Gasoline and diesel contracts tracked crude higher. The Nymex August RBOB contract 1.35cts higher at $2.479/gal and July RBOB up by 1.2cts to $2.495/gal.
The Nymex August ULSD contract was up by 0.30ct to $2.5235/gal and the July contract was higher by about the same amount at $2.5385/gal.
Weekly U.S. petroleum supply and demand data released earlier Thursday by the Energy Information Administration was bullish. The agency reported a 2.5 million-bbl draw in crude stocks, a 2.28 million-bbl drop in gasoline holdings and a 1.7 million-bbl decline in distillate inventories.
EIA also estimated domestic gasoline demand rose in the week ended Friday by about 350,000 b/d to 9.386 million b/d. OPIS surveys suggest that consumption was largely unchanged week to week.
U.S. government data earlier Thursday showed signs of a cooling job market, which lifted expectations among some market participants that the Federal Reserve could be open to cut interest rates later this year.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
-- Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Andrew Atwal, aatwal@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-20-24 1259ET
