Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 600,000 barrels during the week ending November 28, after adding 2.8 million barrels in the week prior, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 427.5 million barrels according to government data, which is 3% below the five-year average for this time of year.
The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which suggested that crude oil inventories fell by 2.48 million barrels.
Crude prices were trading higher on Wednesday morning as traders leaned into OPEC+’s 2026 messaging, a softer dollar, and fresh comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin that effectively shut the door on hopes for a quick end to the Russia-Ukraine war. At 9:50 a.m. in New York, Brent was trading at $62.99 per barrel—up $0.54 (+0.86%) on the day. Brent is trading up $0.60 per barrel compared to this time last week. WTI followed suit, rising $0.57 per barrel (+0.97%) in early trade.
Still, the bump is a tentative one. Nothing material has shifted in the supply-demand balance, leaving this morning’s rally more sentiment-driven than structural.
For total motor gasoline, the EIA reported that inventories had increased by 4.5 million barrels, on top of the 2.5 million barrel gain in the week prior. The most recent figures showed average daily gasoline production increasing to 9.8 million barrels. For middle distillates, inventories increased by 2.1 million barrels, with production increasing by 53,000 barrels daily to an average of 5.1 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 7% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total products supplied—a proxy for U.S. oil demand—slipped to an average of 20.3 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, down 0.5% compared to the same period last year. Gasoline demand averaged 8.7 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, while the distillate four-week average supplied averaged 3.7 million barrels—down by 2.0 percent year over year.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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