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Republicans aren't the nation's only naysayers. This week, the industry-supported American Petroleum Institute said "no" to inventory builds in the oil complex. Moreover, the API estimated across-the-board declines in supplies. Analysts, for their part, were shopping for increases. Today's inventory report from the U.S. Energy Department settled matters in favor of the analysts. The government said crude oil stocks increased by 1.9 million barrels versus the API's call for a 741,000-barrel drawdown. Analysts' expectations varied widely, from a 750,000-barrel decline to a 100,000-barrel build. There was much more consensus in the analysts' product expectations. The Street eyed a build in gasoline supplies between 400,000 and 700,000 barrels. The API, in contrast, thought inventories would be drawn down by 1.7 million barrels. In the end, the definitive Energy Department report showed stocks increasing by 3.6 million barrels. Similarly, distillate fuel stocks—including diesel and heating oil—rose by 2.1 million barrels, according to the government report. This was more in line with analysts' estimates than the API's expectations. Oil Patch watchers thought there'd be a build between 800,000 and 1.0 million barrels, while the API was waiting for a 3.1-million-barrel decline. Analysts were dead-on with their estimates of refinery utilization. The government's figures showed usage stepped up for the fifth-straight week, jumping from 85.6 to 85.9 percent. The API had called for a decline in utilization. That step-up in utilization translated into production increases. Gasoline output climbed to a daily average of 9.4 million barrels, according to government figures. Daily distillate fuel production rose to an average of 4.1 million barrels. On the demand side, the Energy Department reported that gasoline consumption increased 2.7 percent from year-ago levels to a daily average of 9.2 million barrels. Using a different sampling technique, MasterCard Inc. reported a 1.8 percent spike in demand. Distillate fuel demand averaged 3.6 million barrels per day, down 0.1 percent from the same period last year. Trading Week Through Tuesday, crude prices eased 0.7 percent while product prices declined more sharply: Gasoline fell 1.0 percent as heating oil tumbled 1.3 percent. The decline in product prices squeezed refining margins. Gasoline-heavy refinery runs dipped a half-percentage point to 14.0 percent. Springtime runs still maintain a 0.8 percent premium over 2-1-1 operations geared to producer heavier distillates. Product Cracks 
Heavier North Sea Brent moved to a premium over West Texas Intermediate. Last week, WTI traded for 95 cents more than Brent. This week, the European benchmark's per-barrel price was $1.17 higher than the NYMEX standard. Contango also widened this week. The NYMEX three-month roll increased nearly a buck, from $2.37 to $3.31 a barrel, building a positive annualized carry of 3.9 percent. Average daily NYMEX volume fell to 857,000 contracts as open interest fell 5.0 percent to 1.388 million. Nearby NYMEX Crude Oil 
Nearby NYMEX crude, while technically weak in the near term, has been steadily churning toward the $91.40 level—representing a 50 percent retracement of its 2008-09 decline. RSI is middling, though turning up, while MACD and stochastics are still bearish. Close-in resistance is at $84.59 for the nearby contract. Further overhead is selling pressure at $87.97. Support for the contract can first be expected at $81.12, then at $79.58.
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