Amid all the chaos of Harvey’s outages and Irma’s expectations, tonight’s API inventory seems relatively irrelevant but we are sure the machines will be all over it – no matter that it will be guesstimated more than normal. WTI was at one-month highs above $49 as API printed and knee-jerked lower despite a smaller than expected crude build (still the biggest build since March) and a smaller than expected draw in gasoline.

API

Last week’s modest builds in products and a big draw in crude occurred before Harvey hit. This week’s data shows the initial effects with a major build in crude (though less than expected) and major draw in gasoline stocks (though also less than expected).

Heading into the print, WTI was around $49 and RBOB had been bouncing back after falling intraday… The initial reaction was a kneejerk lower in WTI and RBOB…

“The refineries are coming back online,” Craig Bethune, a senior portfolio manager who focuses on natural resources investments at Manulife Asset Management Ltd. in Toronto, says by telephone. But “the market still views pricing as range-bound.”

“If it goes through Florida, that’s definitely a headwind for demand” for gasoline and other fuels, Bethune says.