On October 9, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its latest Weekly Petroleum Status Report. The data showed that crude oil inventories increased by 5.8 million barrels from the previous week, far exceeding analysts' expectations of 2 million barrels. The current level of crude oil inventories is about 4% below the average for the same five-year period.

Meanwhile, total gasoline inventories fell by 6.3 million barrels, significantly exceeding market expectations for a 1.1 million barrel decline. Distillate fuel inventories also fell by 3.1 million barrels.

Crude oil imports fell by 389,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the previous week to average 6.2 million bpd. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged 6.4 million b/d.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased to 382.9 million barrels from 382.6 million barrels, indicating that the U.S. government continues to purchase oil to replenish its reserves.

Domestic crude oil production rose to 13.4 million barrels per day from 13.3 million barrels per day, an increase that was positive news for the market.

Following the release of the EIA report, WTI crude oil prices recovered from their intraday lows and are now attempting to regain the $72.50 per barrel level. The sharp reduction in gasoline inventories provided some support to the market.

Brent crude oil prices also recovered after the report was released, approaching the $76.00 per barrel level.

Taken as a whole, oil traders are still closely monitoring developments in the Middle East, and it is expected that the dynamics in this region will continue to be a major driver of oil prices in the coming trading sessions.