U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude is now up 10% for the week following on a 2.44% jump in price to $59.24 a barrel today. International benchmark Brent crude gained 1.94% to $66.31 a barrel.
Continued tensions between the United States and Iran, of course, have kept the trend pointing upwards.
But today’s big move is a result of a surprise drawdown, announced this morning by the Energy Information Administration, in U.S. crude inventories of 12.8 million barrels from the level of the prior week.
And a drop in U.S. oil production of 100,000 barrels a day from the prior week to 12.1 million barrels a day.
And an increase in U.S. exports to record levels. With U.S. oil imports down for the week the U.S. was a net exporter of crude and petroleum products for only the third time in records dating back to 1990, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) finished up 1.54% on the day. Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) and Parsley Energy (PE), two U.S. oil shale producers that I own in my online portfolios, climbed 2.08% and 4.06%, respectively. The Parsley Energy January 17 Call Options with a strike at $20 that I added to my Volatility Portfolio yesterday, climbed to $1.75 per contract from $1.71 on June 25.
