Crude and Brent oil have moved slightly higher this morning after data from the American Petroleum Institute revealed another huge drawdown in US oil stockpiles.

WTI has edged up $0.17, or 0.4%, and Brent oil has added $0.24, or 0.5%. Both benchmarks are trading above their recent long-term ranges, although below the highs struck last week when prices reached levels not seen since early March.

API oil inventories: another huge decline for US stockpiles

The latest API report revealed another large draw from US crude oil stockpiles in the week ending August 28^th.

As has become usual recently due to the highly unusual conditions in the market, the actual draw of 6.360 million barrels hugely outpaced the 1.887 million barrel drop that analysts had predicted.

Last week the API reported a 4.524 million barrel drop against expectations of a 3.694 million barrel decline.

Last week was the sixth consecutive week that oil stockpiles declined. Gasoline inventories also fell, with the draw of 5.761 million barrels representing only a slight moderation from the 6.392 million barrels the week before. Analysts had expected gasoline stocks to fall by just over 3 million barrels.

Distillates were down 1.424 million barrels, erasing a bit over half of the build seen the previous week.

Official data from the US Energy Information Administration is due for release during today’s New York session.

US manufacturing uptick supports crude

Oil market sentiment has also been lifted by recent US manufacturing data. The ISM manufacturing index for August climbed to 56.0 from 54.2. Analysts had expected the index to register a mild uptick to 54.5.

The reading is the third month of growth after the sector was hammered by the coronavirus lockdowns, and is also the highest reading since November 2018.