Oil edges up as record U.S. crude exports offset stock build

Record high U.S. crude exports helped offset the market’s consternation over another weekly build in stockpiles, sending oil prices higher for a second day in a row.

New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude for April delivery settled at $77.69 a barrel, up 64 cents, or 0.8%. In the prior session, WTI rose 1.8%.

London-traded Brent crude for April delivery settled at $84.31, up 86 cents or 1.03%. Brent gained 1.8% in Tuesday’s trade, similar to WTI.

“Oil looks like it will stay stuck in a trading range,” said Ed Moya, analyst at online trading platform OANDA, who noted risks to the upside balanced by fears of a possible recession.

Wednesday’s price gains came as U.S. crude exports hit a record high of 5.629 million barrels last week, the EIA, or Energy Information Administration, reported.

Despite that, U.S. crude inventories rose due to seasonal maintenance and other disruptions at U.S. refineries that led to less-than-normal processing of crude.

Refineries operated at 85.8% of their operable capacity during the week ended Feb. 24, the EIA said. Typically, inventory runs at this time of the year are about 90% or more.

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15M barrels per day last week, which was 31,000 barrels per day less than the previous week’s average, the EIA said in its Weekly Petroleum Status Report

As a result, U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.165M barrels during the week ended Feb. 24.

It was, however, the smallest weekly increase in U.S. crude stockpiles over the past four weeks, although it came on top of about 60M barrels already gained since the start of the year.

Industry analysts tracked by Investing.com, meanwhile, had forecast a built 2.083M on average for the week.

Another factor helping sentiment in oil was China’s factory data, which came in higher than expected for January, serving as a proxy for energy demand in the world’s largest crude importer. Offsetting that was German inflation data, which raised worries that the European Central Bank will have to be more aggressive with its tightening cycle. The U.S. manufacturing data showed a slowing economy where some parts were encouraging.