Crude oil inventories in the United States saw an increase of 900,000 barrels during the week ending September 25, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 427.3 million barrels, according to government data, which is now 2% above the five-year average for this time of year.
The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories had gained 1.019 million barrels in the period.
Crude futures were trading up at 10:22 a.m. in New York. Brent futures were trading at $103.34 per barrel—up $0.75 (+0.73%) on the day and up roughly $2 per barrel from this same time last week. WTI was also trading up on the day, by $1.38 per barrel (+1.54%) on Wednesday morning at $90.76, down about $1.25 per barrel since this time last week.
For total motor gasoline, the EIA reported that inventories decreased by 1.7 million barrels, after losing 1.7 million barrels in the week prior. The most recent figures showed that average daily gasoline production averaged 9.5 million barrels. For middle distillates, inventories decreased 2.3 million barrels, with production decreasing to an average of 5.0 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 14% below the five-year average.
Total products supplied—a proxy for U.S. oil demand—averaged 20.8 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, up 2.1% compared to the same period last year. Gasoline demand averaged 8.7 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, with the distillate four-week average supplied at 3.8 million barrels—up 5.2% year over year.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
