Oil flat after losses on inventory rise

22 April 2010

Written by Bob Burton

Crude oil prices were trading around $83.68 a barrel this morning (April 22nd), flat after losses yesterday following the latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) demand report.

According to the group, crude inventories across the US rose 1.89 million barrels last week, against a 750,000-barrel drop forecast by a Bloomberg News survey.

Speaking to the news group, Toby Hassall, a commodity analyst at CWA Global Markets Pty in Sydney, commented: "We're still yet to see a substantial recovery in the US oil market fundamentals and that inventory report overnight was along those lines."

He added that the demand report was "pretty soft across the board", with gasoline and diesel stocks also climbing during the week.

The report once more undermined weekly inventory figures published by the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute, which reported a strong drawdown for last week.

Both crude and heating oil rallied after the report on Tuesday, but slumped after the EIA figures yesterday.

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