Oil futures traded near the session’s best levels early Wednesday afternoon, supported by the International Energy Agency’s forecasts for stronger demand growth this year and next. Data from the Energy Information Administration early Wednesday showed a hefty 10.2 million-barrel rise in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended Dec. 9. However, Matt Smith, lead oil analyst, Americas, at Kpler, pointed out in its report, the EIA also made a positive adjustment of nearly 2.3 million barrels per day to petroleum supply — “essentially adding back in nearly 16 million barrels of unaccounted-for supply.” He attributed the unaccounted-for supply to “considerably” lower exports on the U.S. Gulf Coast last week “than the EIA is reporting.” The “adjustment” to the figures is essentially a “balancing item,” explained Smith. When the EIA can’t balance supply and demand, it has to make an adjustment in order to balance the books, though he admits that this week’s number is huge, and just shy of the record. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, January West Texas Intermediate crude CLF23 traded up $2.08, or 2.8%, at $77.47 a barrel after trading as high as $77.50.
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