The Energy Information Administration reported a crude oil inventory draw of 1.7 million barrels for the first week of 2019, after a 6.9-million-barrel build in the last week of 2018. Inventories remain over the five-year seasonal average, the authority said. In gasoline, however, the EIA reported a hefty addition of 8.1 million barrels, a day after the American Petroleum Institute depressed oil prices further by estimating a 5.5-million-barrel increase in gasoline inventories and a 10.2-million-barrel build in distillate fuel inventories. According to the EIA, distillate fuel inventories went up by as much as 10.6 million barrels in the week to January 4. West Texas Intermediate recovered to above US$50 a barrel this week on the news—as announced by President Trump on Twitter —that U.S.-China trade talks were going well, which sparked hope an end was in sight for the trade war that has weighed on international oil prices. The […]