Crude inventories fell by 3.2 million barrels in the week to Jan. 8 to 482.2 million barrels, compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.3 million-barrel drop.
I think what we're seeing here is the drawdown in supply and a big uptick in refinery runs is giving the market an idea that refiners are starting to ramp up production of products.
Crude inventories fell by 8 million barrels in the last week to 485.5 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.1 million-barrel drop.
Refinery crude runs rose by 89,000 barrels per day in the last week, EIA said.
Shutdowns in more developed economies "increase refineries' exposure to the highly competitive product export market," BP said in its outlook, released in September.