The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 399,000 barrels in the week ending July 3. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 6.072 million barrels.
Although commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have been falling rapidly for more than two months, shedding almost 60 million barrels over the last twelve weeks, US crude inventories are only down 8.6 million barrels so far this year, according to API data, kept in check by draws from the SPR.
For the week ending July 3, another 6.2 million barrels left the SPR, bringing the new total to 325.7 million barrels—lower than the 2023 low reached during the Biden Administration’s huge drawdown and the lowest level in over four decades. SPR inventories are now 405 million barrels shy of maximum capacity.
US production fell to 13.810 million bpd for the week ending June 26, down from 13.819 million bpd in the week prior, according to the latest EIA data, and up 377,000 bpd from a year earlier.
At 3:34 pm ET on Tuesday, Brent crude was trading up on the day at $76.07(+5.67%) after a series of attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
WTI was also trading up on the day, by $3.68 per barrel (+5.37%) at $72.23, which is a roughly $2 per barrel increase from last Tuesday.
Gasoline inventories fell this week, by 2.929 million barrels in the week ending July 3. In the week prior, gasoline inventories decreased by 2.106 million barrels. In the week prior, gasoline inventories were already 7% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.
Distillate inventories fell by 1.801 million barrels, after gaining 2.9 million barrels in the week prior. Distillate inventories were already 8% below the five-year average as of the week ending June 26, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventory—the inventory kept at the delivery hub for the WTI Crude futures contract—fell 69,000 barrels over the reporting period after rising 503,000 barrels in the week prior.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
