BTE is oversold - US crude inventory decline is significantI have to admit, I question the high level manipulation on oil and this stock. It certainly looks like all the negativity is built in to this stock and the "message" on oil should be turning hard in the coming weeks.
I've researched and we need to focus on facts and the "big picture":
1. Over the last eight weeks, the surplus of U.S. crude stocks to the five-year average for the same time of year has fallen by 33.351 million barrels to 102.692 million barrels.
2. Output from the Lower US 48 states fell 20,000 b/d to 8.815 million b/d, EIA estimated. That was only the second weekly decline so far this year.
3. Buying by state-owned refiners pushed up China's crude oil imports in May 15.4% year on year to 37.2 million mt, or 8.8 million b/d !
4. Watch China some more: Imports in May rose 4.7% month on month, preliminary data released Thursday by the General Administration of Customs showed. The imports are the second highest level ever after 9.21 million b/d imported in March this year.
5. Independent refineries in China's eastern Shandong and Hebei provinces imported 8.43 million mt, or 1.99 million b/d, of crude oil in May, a 46% year-on-year increase!
6. Platts China Oil Analytics estimated that around 1.31 million b/d of refining capacity was shut in May for maintenance -- 728,000 b/d for Sinopec refineries and 285,000 b/d for PetroChina refineries.
7. India's high oil need continues. In Asia, one of the strongest pockets of oil demand growth is expected be in India, where, according to Platts Analytics, demand growth is expected to outpace China's demand growth for a third year in a row. Indian demand is expected to grow by 7% to 4.13 million b/d in 2017
8. China's oil consumption is always underestimated and is see to rise by only 3% to 11.5 million b/d in 2017 but actual consumption and imports indicates much higher growth.