Crude inventories last week dropped for a third straight week while fuel demand rose to its highest since March 2020, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories (USOILC=ECI) fell by 3 million barrels in the week to Aug. 20, slightly higher than analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.7 million-barrel drop. At 432.6 million barrels, crude stocks were at their lowest since January 2020. After 10 consecutive weekly drawdowns, stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures (USOICC=ECI) rose by 70,000 barrels last week, the EIA said. “A tick higher in refinery runs and a tick lower in imports has yielded a third consecutive draw to crude inventories – dropping them to their lowest since late January 2020,” said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData. “The inventory draw came despite a tick lower in […]