U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose by 4.4 million barrels in the week ending August 14, bringing total stockpiles to 428.8 million barrels, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released Wednesday.
The increase aligns inventories with the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA figures followed a separate report from the American Petroleum Institute (API), which had recorded a decline of 328,000 barrels in crude inventories for the same period.
Crude futures were trading higher mid-morning in New York, with Brent crude at $91.41 per barrel, up $0.39 (+0.43%) on the day and nearly $3 higher than the same time last week. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was also higher, at $85.41 per barrel, up $0.47 (+0.55%) from the previous session and roughly $3 above last week’s levels.
Gasoline inventories climbed by 700,000 barrels, reversing a prior week’s decline of 1.0 million barrels. Average daily gasoline production rose to 9.7 million barrels. Middle distillate inventories, however, fell by 1.5 million barrels, with production averaging 5.2 million barrels per day. Distillate stockpiles now sit 13% below the five-year average.
Total products supplied—a measure of U.S. oil demand—averaged 20.5 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, down 2.9% year over year. Gasoline demand over the same period averaged 8.9 million barrels per day, while distillate demand averaged 3.7 million barrels, down 0.8% compared to the prior year.
