Recently, the federal government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued an overall bullish report, showing a smaller-than-expected build in crude stockpiles. Further, the data showed that gasoline inventories were down as predicted, while distillate stocks also declined, though fell short of expectations. In its release, the agency said that crude inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels for the week ending October 16, much lower than analysts' expectations. This is the second successive week in which the crude buildup has been lower than originally anticipated. A major contributing factor to the modest increase can be attributed to a fall in crude oil imports, which dropped to the lowest level in two months. Current crude oil stocks, at 339.1 million barrels, are 8.9% above the year-earlier level and remain above the upper limit of the average for this time of the year (depicted in the first EIA chart below). The ...