The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 2.8 million barrels in the week ending May 22. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 9.1 million barrels.
US crude inventories have risen by 22 million barrels so far this year, according to API data.
Inventories in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) continue to draw down in an attempt to alleviate the pressure on prices. For week ending May 22, 9.1 million barrels left the SPR, bringing the new total to 365.1 million barrels—the lowest level since April 2024 and 360 million barrels shy of maximum capacity.
US production fell slightly to 13.702 million bpd for the week ending May 15, down from 13.710 million bpd in the week prior, according to the latest EIA data, and up 310,000 bpd from a year earlier.
At 12:59 pm ET on Wednesday, before data release, Brent crude was trading down on the day at $95.46 (-4.14%) as the market is inexplicably optimistic that the current oil supply imbalance will be rebalanced in relatively short order despite any evidence to the contrary. Brent has fallen nearly $16 since last Tuesday. WTI was also trading down on the day, by $4.23 per barrel (-4.51%) at $89.66, which is a roughly $14.50 dropoff from last Tuesday.
Gasoline inventories saw a draw this week of 3.199 million barrels in the week ending May 22. In the week prior, gasoline inventories fell by 5.8 million barrels. As of last week, gasoline inventories were already 5% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.
Distillate inventories rose by 1.1 million barrels, after shedding 1 million barrels in the week prior. Distillate inventories were already 9% below the five-year average as of the week ending May 15, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventory—the inventory kept at the delivery hub for the WTI Crude futures contract—fell 2.875 million barrels over the reporting period after falling 1.4 million barrels in the week prior.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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