US commercial crude oil inventories dropped -8m barrels in the week ending January 1. At 485.5m barrels, oil inventories are about 9% above the five year average for this time of the year. Gasoline inventories rose 4.5m barrels. Distillate rose 6.4m barrels. Propane/propylene dropped -2.4m barrels. Total commercial petroleum inventories rose 1.7m barrels.
WTI crude oil is staying firm above 50 handle after the release. For the near term it’s on track for channel resistance at 52.02.