U.S. crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories (USOILC=ECI) fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That’s a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters. The four-week average rose to 21.4 million bpd, highest since September 2019. “Total products supplied increased a fair amount. That’s surprising to me as we see product demand remaining robust despite some of the Delta variant concerns,” said Tony Headrick, analyst at CHS Hedging. Next week’s […]