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Yesterday's EIA inventory status did not show a remarkable effect on the oil market despite draws in all inventories.

The EIA (Energy Information Administration) reported a draw on crude of 2,4 mbpd, a 4 mbpd draw on gasoline and a 0,3 mbpd draw on distillates.

Not much has changed on the short-term news front. The crude oil exports from northern Iraq are still down from the 600 kbpd level and alledgedly Iraqi average production levels fell 120 kbpd through October. Though it might seem like a large volume, it still only counts for less than 3% of total Iraqi production. Furthermore, the tensions in northern Iraq between the Iraqi government and the Kurds remain as Iraqi forces Wednesday threatened to resume operations in the north.

The disputes in Iraq in combination with the 180 kbpd less production by OPEC in October comes on top of the increased likelihood that the OPEC output cut will be extended. These circumstances have likely facilitated Brent breaking the 60 USD barrier. In general, the market consensus is far more bullish for Brent than is for the US crude grade WTI, as for every short Brent contract there is 12 longs, which is 4 times more than for the WTI grade.

So, the overall crude market is still trending upwards towards mid 2015 levels, but for today there is not much changed, concluding in a slightly bearish intraday trend.