US Private Weekly Inventory Data (bbls) Crude -0.3mln (prev. +9.1mln), Gasoline +1.1mln (prev. -1.5mln), Distillate -2.8mln (prev. -0.6mln), Cushing -1.4mln (prev. +0.4mln)

This is the private survey that lands the evening before the official government inventory figures, and its established role is as a positioning input rather than a terminal event: crude has historically moved on the print in the minutes after release, with the more durable move reserved for whether the official data confirm or contradict it the following morning. The structure here is mixed, a modest crude draw against a very large prior build, alongside a distillate draw and a gasoline build, and the usual distinction applies: in episodes of this kind, crude direction tends to follow the headline crude number while refined product balances colour the read-through for refinery runs and margins. The Cushing draw matters specifically for the WTI front end and the prompt spread, since hub stocks are the delivery point against which the nearby contract is settled; draws there have tended to tighten prompt structure more than an equivalent draw in the national figure. A large week-on-week swing in the crude number, as here, also carries the caveat that weekly private estimates are noisy around imports, exports, and adjustment items, and revisions versus the official series are common. The tell is the confirmation or divergence in the government report and any accompanying shift in refinery utilisation and implied product demand.