EIA crude oil inventories soared to offset supply concerns, and cloth oil soared 4% to a new high in nearly a week

U.
S.
oil futures rose 3.
7% on Wednesday (April 13) to settle at $104.
25 a barrel
.
The day before, both major indicators of crude oil climbed more than
6%.
Major global trading companies plan to reduce their purchases of crude oil and fuel from Russian state-owned oil companies as early as May 15 to avoid clashes with EU sanctions against Russia, pushing oil prices upward
, sources said.

(Oil 4-hour chart)

Commercial crude inventories excluding strategic reserves rose by 9.
382 million barrels to 421.
8 million barrels in the week ended April 8, up 2.
3%, partly due to the release of national strategic reserve crude, according to data released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA); Gasoline inventories fell by 3.
649 million barrels, the largest since the week ended October 15, 2021, refined oil inventories fell by 2.
902 million barrels, and Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) inventories fell by 3.
899 million barrels, or 0.
69%,
to 560.
7 million barrels.
U.
S.
crude exports fell 1.
513 million b/d to 2.
18 million b/d last week; Commercial crude excluding strategic reserves imported 5.
995 million b/d last week, down 305,000 b/d
from the previous week.

Financial blog Zero Hedge said that last week, U.
S.
implied gasoline demand rebounded to normal levels, U.
S.
crude oil production hovered at recovery highs, WTI crude hovered around $102 ahead of the release of U.
S.
Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, and fell amid a large increase in crude oil inventories before recovering to previous levels
.
Ironically, oil prices have soared 8-9%
over the past two days as Biden unveiled his latest plan to lower gasoline prices.
The recovery in crude oil prices suggests that gasoline prices are unlikely to fall
further at the moment.

Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group, said that at the end of the day, the market is driven by some news from Russia, which is becoming increasingly threatening, which is still a greater risk
.
The impact of this is still being debated
.
The oil market has been volatile recently, with end-users and traders trying to quantify the impact
on Russia's daily exports following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Most estimate the impact to be between 1 million and 3 million b/d
.

The IEA (International Energy Agency) released its monthly crude oil market report showing that about 700,000 b/d of Russian oil production has been shut down
since April.
Russian refineries are expected to fall by 1.
5 million b/d in April as more buyers avoid crude supplies and Russia's oil reserves are full, with Russian refineries expected to fall by 1.
5 million b/d
in April.
Those supply losses could still double to 3 million b/d
in May, the agency said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow could easily shift its massive exports of energy resources from the West to other countries
.
Some countries, including India, have been buying Russian oil
at deep discounts.

Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members have refused to increase production faster, according to the IEA, partly because they believe the market is not facing a real shortage, and partly to preserve their Russia-led OPEC+ alliance
.
OPEC+ increased production by 40,000 b/d in March, 360,000 b/d less than the planned target, and compliance with the OPEC deal reached 159%
in March.

The IEA monthly report also shows that global oil inventories have fallen
for 14 consecutive months.
In the case of the OECD, OECD inventories fell by 42 million barrels to 2.
61 billion barrels in February, and industrial inventories fell sharply in February, 320 million barrels
below the five-year average.
However, preliminary data suggest that OECD oil inventories increased by 8.
8 million barrels
in March.
The agency expects lower demand, increased output from OPEC+ and other countries, and stockpile releases from IEA members to prevent a huge outstrip of supply
.