Crude oil inventories in the United fell by 5.935 million barrels for the week ending November 15, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Analysts had expected a smaller build of 250,000 barrels.
For the week prior, the API reported a 4.753 barrel build in crude inventories.
So far this year, crude oil inventories have fallen by more than 5 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 November 22. SPR inventories are now at 390.4 million barrels, a figure that is about 43 million above its multi-decade low last summer, yet still 245 million down from when President Biden took office.
At 3:34 pm ET, Brent crude was trading down $0.41 (-0.56%) on the day at $72.60—down roughly $0.80 per barrel compared to last Tuesday. The U.S. benchmark WTI was also trading down on the day by $0.37 (-0.54%) at $68.57—down $1 per barrel from last Tuesday. The decline is largely the result of a pullback after last week’s surge following an exchange of missile fire between Ukraine and Russia and a supply outage at Johan Sverdrup.
Gasoline inventories rose this week by 1.814 million barrels compared to last week’s 2.48-million-barrel decrease. As of last week, gasoline inventories are 4% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.
Distillate inventories rose by 2.543 million barrels, more than offsetting last week’s 688,000-barrel dip. Distillate inventories were about 4% below the five-year average as of the week ending November 15, 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—fell by 734,000 barrels, according to API data, after falling by 288,000 barrels in the previous week.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
