The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 2.69 million barrels in the week ending July 30, despite analyst expectations for a 2 million barrel draw. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels.
Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 58 million barrels over the last sixteen weeks, with US crude inventories down just 7.2 million for the year, according to API data, kept in check by draws from the SPR.
For the week ending July 31, another 2.9 million barrels left the SPR, bringing the new total to 304.8 million barrels—far lower than the 2023 low reached during the Biden Administration’s huge drawdown and the lowest level in over 43 years. SPR inventories are now 427 million barrels shy of maximum capacity.
The generally accepted operational minimum for oil in the SPR is between 250-300 million barrels, below which the reserve may find it difficult to pump and process oil efficiently.
US production for the week ending July 24 fell to 13.796 million bpd, down slightly from 13.798 in the week prior, and up 482,000 bpd from a year earlier.
At 2:11 pm ET on Tuesday, Brent crude was trading down on the day at $79.24 (-5.41%), a nearly $5 per barrel drop week over week as the market rushed to price in more rumors of an Iran/US peace deal.
WTI was also trading down on the day, by $4.62 per barrel (-5.75%) at $75.97, down more than $3 per barrel from this time last week.
Gasoline inventories rose this week by 156,000 barrels in the week ending July 31. In the week prior, gasoline inventories increased by 918,000 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 1.2 million barrels, after rising 355,000 barrels in the week prior. Distillate inventories were 9% below the five-year average heading into this reporting period, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventory—the inventory kept at the delivery hub for the WTI Crude futures contract—rose by 2.358 million barrels over the reporting period after falling by 273,000 barrels in the week prior.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
- Pakistan Partners with Canadian Firm to Boost Domestic Heavy Crude Output
- Hormuz Tanker Traffic Stalls at Two-Month Low as Attacks Escalate
- India’s HPCL Snaps Up Nigerian Crude To Dodge The Hormuz Bottleneck
