WTI/RBOB prices have fallen after a brief pop on last night's API data but knee-jerked higher after DOE reported a bigger than expected crude draw (9th straight week). Cushing saw its biggest draw ever and Distillates surprised with a draw as US crude production bounced back.

Ahead of the DOE days, Bloomberg noted the market's anxiety: A ninth-consecutive crude draw would be helpful, but a tenth consecutive weekly gasoline build would not. And a fifth straight distillate build would add more bearish sentiment. Survey data already see sizable builds in both product categories, and figures coming in showing larger builds could have bulls questioning the insanely long positioning of the crude market.

API

DOE

Another crude draw and another gasoline build but Cushing's 4.18mm draw is the largest on record. Distillates surprised with a draw that is perhaps weather-driven as several refiners were shut in…

That cold snap across the eastern US is showing its effects on heating fuel. Distillate demand soared the most for any week since 2000, to the highest level in a decade.

That surprise distillate draw didn't seem to come from exports which actually dropped last week, but, as Bloomberg's Bert Gilbert notes, the chart below shows that product supplied for diesel last week hit the highest level since February 2008.

As Bloomberg's Javier Blas notes, one important note: the EIA is making use of its adjustment factor (effectively, a way to hammer all the supply and demand figures). The factor has gone from -489,000 barrels a day last week to a positive of 481,000 barrels a day this week. It's a big swing that puts into question some of the data.