The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a 1 million-barrel increase in U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ending January 17. This was a surprising shift, as analysts surveyed by Reuters had anticipated a 1.6 million-barrel drawdown.
In the previous week, the API had reported a 2.6 million-barrel decline in U.S. crude inventories, which came during the typically slower build season. Meanwhile, product inventories had seen steady increases for several consecutive weeks.
Looking back at 2024, API data shows a drop of over 12 million barrels in crude oil inventories, a trend that continued into the new year. Additionally, earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported a small 0.3 million-barrel rise in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as of January 17. SPR inventories now stand at 394.6 million barrels, which is still 239 million barrels less than when President Biden took office.
At 4:52 pm ET, Brent crude was down $0.38 (-0.48%), trading at $78.91 per barrel. Meanwhile, the U.S. benchmark WTI dropped $0.45 (-0.59%), settling at $75.73, more than $2 lower than last week’s levels.
Gasoline inventories rose by 3.2 million barrels this week, following a significant 5.39 million-barrel increase the previous week. However, as of last week, gasoline stocks were still slightly below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Distillate inventories also increased by 1.9 million barrels, following a larger 4.88 million-barrel rise in the previous week. As of January 10, distillate stocks were about 4% below the five-year average.
Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for U.S. crude futures, rose by 500,000 barrels, according to the API. This followed a smaller 573,000-barrel increase the week before.
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