The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 8.33 million barrels in the week ending June 12. Analysts had expected a 4.5 million draw. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by a rather large 9.119 million barrels.
Although inventories have been falling rapidly for the last 2+ months, shedding 52 million barrels over the last nine weeks, US crude inventories are only down 1.4 million barrels so far this year, according to API data.
Inventories in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) are also falling quickly as the Trump Administration looks to alleviate pricing pressure. For the week ending June 12, another 8.9 million barrels left the SPR, bringing the new total to 340.3 million barrels—lower than the 2023 low reached during the Biden Administration’s huge drawdown and the lowest level since 1983. SPR inventories are now 385 million barrels shy of maximum capacity.
US production rose to 13.799 million bpd for the week ending June 5, up from 13.707 million bpd in the week prior, according to the latest EIA data, and up 371,000 bpd from a year earlier.
At 2:51 pm ET on Tuesday, before data release, Brent crude was trading sharply down on the day at $79.18 (-4.80%), which is a $12 per barrel drop from this time last week as the US and Iran signed a preliminary deal that would end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
WTI was also trading down on the day, by $4.50 per barrel (-5.57%) at $76.25, which is a roughly $12 dropoff from last Tuesday.
Gasoline inventories rose this week by 2.479 million barrels in the week ending June 12. In the week prior, gasoline inventories decreased by 1.191 million barrels. In the week prior, gasoline inventories were already 6% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.
Distillate inventories fell by 461,000 barrels, after adding 1.3 million barrels in the week prior. Distillate inventories were already 13% below the five-year average as of the week ending June 5, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventory—the inventory kept at the delivery hub for the WTI Crude futures contract—fell by 1.523 million barrels over the reporting period after falling 1.125 million barrels in the week prior.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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