EIA crude inventories fell to a three-year low, and U.S. oil rose nearly 2 percent to a nearly two-month high

On Wednesday (January 12), crude oil rose 1.
21% to close at $84.
73 / barrel, briefly breaking through the $85 mark during the session
.
Earlier, both the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) hinted that the market supply may be tighter than previously expected, and government reports showed that US crude oil inventories fell sharply last week, which made oil prices volatile to the upside
.

The U.
S.
Energy Information Administration (EIA) said gasoline inventories surged by 7.
961 million barrels and refined oil inventories jumped by 2.
537 million barrels
in the week ended Jan.
7 。 Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) inventories fell by 300,000 barrels last week to 593 million barrels, the lowest since the week of November 15, 2002, and the four-week average supply of U.
S.
crude products was 20.
792 million barrels per day, up 10.
8% from the same period last year.
Commercial crude oil, excluding strategic reserves, imported 6.
069 million b/d last week, up 185,000 b/d from the previous week; Crude oil exports fell by 599,000 b/d to 1,955,000 b/d
.

EIA crude inventories fell for the seventh week in a row, Cushing fell for the first time in two months, and gasoline inventories rose
sharply again after a sharp spike in inventories the previous week, financial blog Zero Hedge.
Oil prices are off to a positive start in 2022 as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on fuel consumption eases, oil demand will continue to expand and the market will tighten
.
Over the past few weeks, crude oil supplies from OPEC members Kazakhstan and Libya have been disrupted
.
We note that the rebound in oil and gasoline has pushed prices above pre-strategic crude oil release levels, and given the lag in the supply chain, these phenomena indicate that gasoline prices are about to start rising
again.

Matt Smith, chief oil analyst for the Americas at data firm Kpler, said: "Despite a significant reduction in refining activity, inventories have fallen more than expected
.
" Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Management, said crude oil was in a rosy trading mood and investors were focused on bullish signals from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) report, such as a decline in Cushing inventories, rather than a slight weakening
in implied demand.
At present, both fundamentals and technical figures support higher oil prices
.

The Brent contract is in a contrarian spread, with the front-month contract trading about $4.
41 above the six-month contract, indicating a recent supply crunch
.
Earlier, Fatih Birol of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that demand after the outbreak of the omicron outbreak was higher than expected, while supply disruptions in major oil producing countries
.
On Tuesday, the EIA's short-term energy outlook showed that it lowered its forecast for global oil inventories in the first quarter from growth to a slight decline, and global oil inventories fell by nearly 3 million b/d
in December.

On Wednesday (January 12), the dollar index updated its two-month low, falling below the 95 important support level, confirming the next weak trend
.
Kpler's Smith said a weaker dollar was the main driver of higher oil prices, even surpassing declining data
released by the U.
S.
Energy Information Administration inventory.
A weaker dollar has made dollar-denominated oil contracts cheaper
for holders of other currencies.