The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 4.593 million barrels for the week ending March 14. Analysts had expected a smaller 1.7 million-barrel build.
So far this year, crude oil inventories have climbed more than 21 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) climbed 0.3 million barrels again to 395.9 million barrels in the week ending March 14. Inventory levels in the SPR are hundreds of millions shy of the levels in inventory prior to the SPR withdrawal that took place under the Biden Administration.
At 4:02 pm ET, Brent crude was trading down $0.52 (-0.73%) on the day at $70.55—a nearly $1 per barrel gain from this time last week. The U.S. benchmark WTI was trading down on the day as well, by $0.70 (-1.04%) at $66.88—a $0.40 per barrel increase from last week’s level.
Gasoline inventories fell in the week ending March 14, by 1.708 million barrels, after falling by 4.560 million barrels in the week prior. As of last week, gasoline inventories are now 1% above the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.
Distillate inventories also took a dive this week, shedding 2.146 million barrels in the latest week. In the week prior, distillate inventories rose 421,000 barrels. Distillate inventories were already about 5% below the five-year average as of the week ending March 7, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventories—the benchmark crude stored and traded at the key delivery point for U.S. futures contracts in Cushing, Oklahoma, fell 1.141 million barrels for the week, after falling 1.196 million barrels in the week prior.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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