The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by another 3.674 million barrels in the week ending September 30. This is on top of last week’s 3.821 million barrel draw.
So far this year, net crude oil inventories are have swung to a loss this week of 2.22 million barrels, according to Oilprice calculations of API data.
Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 700,000 barrels to 406.7 million barrels in the week ending September 26.
Adding to the data picture, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest monthly report showed July total liquids production revised sharply higher to 21.218 million barrels per day, nearly half a million bpd above its weekly estimates. Demand was also stronger than implied by the weeklies, with total product supplied at 20.984 million bpd. Both sides of the ledger were hotter than expected, underscoring a tighter U.S. oil market than traders had been pricing in.
At 3:17 pm ET, Brent crude was trading down $0.95 (-1.40%) on the day, reaching $67.02. The figure is down $0.90 per barrel from this time last week. WTI was also trading down on the day, by $0.87 (-1.37%) at $62.58—a more than $1 per barrel drop week over week.
Gasoline inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels in the week ending September 26, after falling by 1.046 million barrels in the week prior. As of last week, gasoline inventories were already 2% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.
Distillate inventories rose again this week, adding another 3.003 million barrels, following the week prior’s 518,000-barrel gain. Distillate inventories were 8% below the five-year average as of the week ending September 19, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventories fell by 693,000 barrels in the week, after adding 72,000 barrels in the week prior.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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