Black commodity trading continued to rise higher after seeing a decline in crude oil supplies at major U.S. storage hubs, signaling a continuing tightening oil market.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) initially reported an increase in U.S. crude oil supplies last week of 2 million barrels compared to expectations of a reduction of 5.1 million barrels.
However on further scrutiny, supply in the market remained tight as crude oil stocks at the Cushing hub reportedly fell to their lowest level since early March, while petrol inventories declined to their lowest level in eight years.
Fuel consumption is on the rise despite the retail price of gasoline approaching a record $ 5 a gallon, with a four -week average for motor fuel demand rising to 9 million barrels a day for the first time this year following the Memorial Day holiday at the end of last month.
The increase in Asian refining margins for diesel hit a new record on Tuesday, further highlighting the tightness in global supply of crude oil and oil products.
In the Asian session, key crude benchmarks traded mixed, showing Brent futures being stronger at $ 123 a barrel. Meanwhile, US WTI trading was slightly lower at $ 122 a barrel.
