U.S. commercial crude oil inventories excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have declined by more than 45 million barrels over the past 19 weeks, according to American Petroleum Institute (API) data. The drawdowns have been offset by releases from the SPR, which held 289.7 million barrels as of the week ending August 21, a level 442 million barrels below maximum capacity.
The SPR’s current inventory is approaching the generally accepted operational minimum of 250-300 million barrels, a range below which the reserve may face challenges in efficiently pumping and processing oil. In the latest week, another 3.7 million barrels were withdrawn from the SPR to support commercial inventories, following a 328,000-barrel decline in the prior week.
Crude oil inventories in the U.S. rose by 4.2 million barrels in the week ending August 21, exceeding analyst expectations of a 1.9 million-barrel build. U.S. crude production increased to 13.830 million barrels per day (bpd) for the week ending August 14, up from 13.805 million bpd the previous week and 503,000 bpd higher than a year earlier.
Crude futures declined on Tuesday, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) trading at $88.38 per barrel, down 4.11% on the day and nearly $3 lower than the prior week. Brent crude fell to $82.13 per barrel, down 3.39% intraday and more than $3.50 below levels from the previous week.
Gasoline inventories decreased by 3.2 million barrels in the week ending August 21, reversing a prior week’s gain of 1.076 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles were already 5% below the five-year average heading into the reporting period. Distillate inventories declined by 500,000 barrels after a prior week’s drop of 2.797 million barrels, leaving them 13% below the five-year average.
At the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub for WTI futures, inventories rose by 1 million barrels following a prior week’s decline of 1.439 million barrels.
