Financial Times: Crude Gains on Big Stocks Draw

“Oil rose back above $112 a barrel after the US government reported a big decline in domestic stocks. Commercial crude oil stocks in the US declined 7.3m barrels last week, the US Department of Energy said – a fall 10 times greater than expected. At 339m barrels, US inventories are the lowest since January. . . . The fall in US crude inventories follows the emergency sale of 30.6m barrels by the US strategic petroleum reserve. The sale momentarily boosted stocks last month. While many of the bidders for strategic barrels took delivery in tankers, the amount of crude in floating storage worldwide is a relatively low 32m barrels, say brokers Poten & Partners.”