American Petroleum Institute (API) crude oil inventories: -7.3 million bbls

American Petroleum Institute (API) crude oil inventories for the week to August 21

Huge decline in inventory, far above what the EIA data was hinting at

• Crude inventories fell by 7.3 mln barrels
• Crude stocks at Cushing nearly unchanged

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Note - This data is out earlier to API subscribers (at 4.30pm ET) and released publicly at 4.35pm ET.

The API data is closely watched as a guide to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data due tomorrow morning (US time).

The consensus estimate for tomorrow's EIA report is currently for a drawdown of 354K barrels.