U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 4.6 million barrels for the week ending February 14, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Crude prices had been rising ahead of the data release, following a report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday, which showed a large increase of 3.34 million barrels in U.S. crude stockpiles. By 10:11 am, just before the EIA’s data was published, both the Brent and WTI benchmarks had gained nearly 0.5%, trading at $76.45 and $72.60, respectively.
The increase in crude inventories aligns with typical seasonal trends, and it follows a 4.1 million barrel rise estimated by the EIA for the previous week.
For motor gasoline, the EIA reported a slight drop of 200,000 barrels in inventories during the same week, with production averaging 9.2 million barrels per day. This marks a contrast to the previous week, which saw a larger inventory drop of 3 million barrels and daily production of 9.3 million barrels.
Middle distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, saw a significant decline of 2.1 million barrels in inventory, with daily production averaging 4.7 million barrels. This compares to a small inventory increase of 100,000 barrels the week before, when production stood at 4.5 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are currently 12% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total products supplied over the last four weeks rose to an average of 20.4 million barrels per day, reflecting a 3.7% increase compared to the same period last year. Distillate products supplied surged by 14.2%, while gasoline supplies also saw an uptick.
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