US Oil Inventories Keep Growing as Prices Sag

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose again, this time by 2.499 million barrels in the week ending May 16 after analysts had estimated a 1.85-million-barrel draw. The API reported a 4.287 million barrel inventory increase in the prior week.

So far this year, crude oil inventories are up more than 25 million barrels, according to Oilprice calculations of API data.

Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) climbed 900,000 barrels to 400.5 million barrels in the week ending May 16. Inventory levels in the SPR are hundreds of millions shy of the levels in inventory prior to the SPR withdrawal that took place under the Biden Administration, although they are rising at a faster clip over the last several weeks.

At 4:20 pm ET, Brent crude was trading up $0.12 (+0.18%) on the day, landing at $65.66—a $1 per barrel decline from this time last week.

WTI was also trading slightly down on the day, by $0.07 (-0.11%) at $62.62—an almost $1 decline form last week’s level.

Gasoline inventories fell in the week ending May 16, by 3.238 million barrels, after falling by 1.374 million barrels in the week prior. As of last week, gasoline inventories were already 3% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.

Distillate inventories were also down this week, by 1.401 million barrels. In the week prior, distillate inventories slid by 3.675 million barrels. Distillate inventories were already a startling 16% below the five-year average as of the week ending May 9, 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 443,000 barrels, the API data showed, compared to last week’s 850,000 barrel dip

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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