Tortoise's Brian Kessens in Bloomberg

Oil Fades as Flagging U.S. Fuel Demand Adds to Economic Angst

  • Gasoline, distillate stockpiles grew almost 10 million barrels
  • WTI falls for third day amid weak consumption data from EIA

Americans burned through a lot less gasoline and diesel fuel than expected last week, feeding into investor angst over oil demand.
Futures slid as much as 1.1% in New York on Wednesday, declining for a third straight day, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration saidstocks of gasoline and distillate fuels grew by a combined 9.25 million barrels last week, well above analyst estimates. Overall crude inventories did decline by more than 3 million barrels, but that was driven in part by temporary production outages related to Hurricane Barry.
“We’re at the heart of summer driving season, so you would expect demand to be at its highest right now,” said Brian Kessens, a portfolio manager and managing director at Tortoise in Leawood, Kansas. The big build in fuel supplies is “a little bit concerning, especially if we see this continue in future reports.”
Read more here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-16/oil-holds-near-lows-on-trump-trade-barbs-easing-iran-tensions