The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 2.603 million barrels in the week ending July 17. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 564,000 barrels.
Although commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have been falling rapidly for three months now, shedding just over 57 million barrels over the last thirteen weeks, US crude inventories are only down 7 million barrels so far this year, according to API data, kept in check by draws from the SPR.
For the week ending July 17, another 5.1 million barrels left the SPR, bringing the new total to 316.5 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 420 million barrels shy of maximum capacity.
It’s important to note that 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 has risen over the last few weeks in response, with production for the week ending July 10 rising to 13.861 million bpd, up slightly from 13.860 million bpd in the prior week perior, and up 486,000 bpd from a year earlier.
At 4:28 pm ET on Tuesday, Brent crude was trading up on the day at $91.36 (+2.40%) as US/Iran tensions escalated once again.
WTI was also trading up on the day, by $2.03 per barrel (+2.46%) at $84.51, up $5 per barrel from this time last week.
Gasoline inventories fell this week, by 1.379 million barrels in the week ending July 17. In the week prior, gasoline inventories decreased by 1.664 million barrels. In the week prior, gasoline inventories were already 8% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.
Distillate inventories rose by 1.759 million barrels, after rising 2.3 million barrels in the week prior. Distillate inventories were already 11% below the five-year average as of the week ending July 10, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventory—the inventory kept at the delivery hub for the WTI Crude futures contract—fell by another 737,000 barrels over the reporting period after rising 238,000 barrels in the week prior.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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