Hurricane Ivan disrupts imports as inventories fall by 3.3%, far more than analysts expected.
September 22, 2004: 11:01 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The supply of crude oil in the United States dropped by 9.1 million barrels last week, the government reported Wednesday, falling far more than experts had expected.
Oil inventories fell by 3.3 percent to 269.5 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 17, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported. Analysts had expected a drop of 5.5 million barrels, according to Reuters.
The severe hurricane season that has mauled the Caribbean and U.S. Gulf Coast region disrupted oil shipments in recent weeks.
The EIA said crude imports fell 1.5 million barrels per day to 8.4 million bpd last week, however shipments have averaged 9.8 million bpd over the past four weeks.
Import shortages due to weather are usually followed by a glut as ships that waited out the storms in safer waters reach their ports.
Following the EIA report, trading in U.S. light crude for November delivery was very volatile with the price initially jumping, then sliding back below Tuesday's closing price. At 11 a.m. ET, light crude was up 24 cents to $47 a barrel.
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