A day after the American Petroleum Institute reported a minor crude draw that nevertheless strengthened prices, the Energy Information Administration confirmed a draw, at 1.7 million barrels for the week to May 21. At 484.3 million barrels, the EIA said, crude oil inventories are below the five-year seasonal average. Analysts had expected the EIA to report an inventory decline of 1.279 million barrels for the period after it reported a build of 1.3 million barrels for the previous week. In gasoline, the authority estimated an inventory draw of 1.7 million barrels for the week to May 21. This compared with a draw of 2 million barrels for the previous week. Gasoline production averaged 9.7 million barrels daily last week, which compared with 9.8 million bpd in the prior week. In middle distillates, the authority estimated an inventory decline of 3 million barrels for the week to May 21 versus […]