Oil was propelled closer to the $100-a-barrel mark after stockpiles at the major US storage hub dropped to critical levels.
West Texas Intermediate traded near $94 a barrel after jumping 3.6% on Wednesday, its biggest gain since early May. Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma — the delivery point for the US benchmark — dropped just below 22 million barrels, the lowest since July 2022 and close to operational minimums.
“My fear in this market is we have de-stocked so much inventory,” Amrita Sen, co-founder and head of research at consultant Energy Aspects, told Bloomberg TV. “Right now, what’s going on in the US — Cushing is dry.”
Overall US crude stockpiles fell more than expected, according to official data released Wednesday, providing evidence of how rapidly the market is tightening due to supply cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia. WTI has jumped by around a third since the end of June, and is on track for the biggest quarterly gain since early 2022.
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