Crude oil inventories in the United fell by 573,000 barrels for the week ending October 25, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Analysts had expected a build of 2.3 million barrels.
For the week prior, the API reported a 1.643-million-barrel build in crude inventories.
So far this year, crude oil inventories have slumped by just over 6 million barrels since the beginning of the year, according to API data.
On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 1.2 million barrels as of October 25. SPR inventories are now at 385.8 million barrels, a figure that reflects an increase of about 38 million from its multi-decade low last summer, yet 249 million down from when President Biden took office.
At 4:30 pm ET, Brent crude was trading down slightly, off $0.16 (-0.22%) on the day at $71.26—down roughly $4.50 per barrel loss from this time last week. The U.S. benchmark WTI was also trading down on the day by $0.08 (-0.12%) at $67.30—down almost $5 per barrel from last Tuesday.
Gasoline inventories fell this week by 282,000 barrels, on top of last week’s 2.019-million-barrel decrease. As of last week, gasoline inventories are 3% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.
Distillate inventories fell by 1.463 million barrels, on top of last week’s 1.478-million-barrel decrease. Distillates were already about 9% below the five-year average as of the week ending October 18, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventories—the benchmark crude stored and traded at the key delivery point for U.S. futures contracts in Cushing, Oklahoma—rose by 320,000 barrels, according to API data, compared to the 216,000-barrel draw of the previous week.
News: Oilprice.com