WTI Dips After Surprise Crude, Product Inventory Builds After a brief dip, extending yesterday's losses, on the surprise crude build reported by API overnight, but anxiety over the Suez canal blockage potentially taking days to fix sent prices notably higher overnight. Ten tankers carrying 13 million barrels of crude could be affected after a container ship that ran aground in the Suez Canal blocked vessels passing through the waterway, oil analytics firm Vortexa said on Wednesday. The approximate rate of backlog is about 50 vessels a day and any delays leading to re-routings will add 15 days to a Middle East to Europe voyage, Vortexa added. For now, all eyes are on US crude stocks as analysts expect a draw. API Crude +2.927mm (-900k exp) Cushing -2.282mm Gasoline -3.728mm Distillates +246k DOE Crude +1.912mm (-900k exp) Cushing -1.935mm Gasoline +204k Distillates +3.806mm Official data confirmed API's crude build surprise but it is the build in products that is most notable Source: Bloomberg Total crude stocks are back near their highest since August... Source: Bloomberg While US rig counts have risen steadily, crude production remains "disciplined" for now amid higher prices... Source: Bloomberg WTI was hovering between $59.50 and $60 ahead of the official data and dipped lower after... Finally, we note that overseas buying isn’t expected to recover any time soon. China, the largest customer for U.S. oil, slowed its intake after purchasing heavily in recent months. Local producers are also competing with traders that have amassed large quantities in storage across the world and are looking to offload their supplies since it doesn’t pay now to store oil and sell in the future. Tyler Durden Wed, 03/24/2021 - 10:35