The Energy Information Administration sunk oil markets deeper into despair reporting a build of 13.8 million barrels for commercial crude oil inventories in the U.S. Total commercial inventories are at 508.6 million barrels, above the upper limit for the season.
A day earlier, the American Petroleum Institute reported the second-largest weekly inventory build ever in the history of records, at 14.227 million barrels, versus expectations of a 2.38-million-barrel increase.
Last week, both EIA and API reported substantial builds in inventories, with the EIA figure at 6.5 million barrels for the week to January 27, exceeding API’s.