The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 9.1 million barrels in the week ending May 15. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 2.188 million barrels.
Analysts had expected a 3.4 million-barrel draw for the current reporting period.
US crude inventories have risen by 26 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 15, 9.9 million barrels left the SPR, bringing the new total to 374.2 million barrels—the largest single-week drawdown in history and the lowest level since July 2024 and 351 million barrels shy of maximum capacity.
US production rose to 13.710 million bpd for the week ending May 8, up from 13.573 million bpd in the week prior, according to the latest EIA data, and up 323,000 bpd from a year earlier.
At 3:26 pm ET on Tuesday, before data release, Brent crude was trading down on the day at $111.10 (-0.87%) after US President Donald Trump paused plans to attack Iran. This is still up $2 week over week. WTI was also trading down on the day, by $0.19 per barrel (-0.18%) at $104.20, but up roughly $2 per barrel week over week.
Gasoline inventories saw a draw this week of 5.8 million barrels in the week ending May 15. In the week prior, gasoline inventories grew by 502,000 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 fell by 1 million barrels, after shedding 319,000 barrels in the week prior. Distillate inventories were already 9% below the five-year average as of the week ending May 8, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventory—the inventory kept at the delivery hub for the WTI Crude futures contract—fell 1.4 million barrels over the reporting period.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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