The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 640,000 barrels for the week ending February 21. Analysts had forecast a 2.3-million-barrel increase, making the actual decline a surprise.
This reduction only slightly offsets the 18 million barrels added to U.S. crude oil inventories over the past four weeks, including a 3.3 million-barrel increase in the prior week.
Earlier in the week, the Department of Energy (DoE) stated that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) held steady at 395.3 million barrels for the week ending February 21. Despite this, inventory levels in the SPR remain significantly lower than pre-withdrawal levels under the Biden administration.
At 3:28 p.m. ET, Brent crude was trading at $73.17, down $1.61 (-2.15%) on the day, nearly $3 lower than the same time last week. Similarly, U.S. benchmark WTI was down $1.60 (-2.26%), trading at $69.10, a roughly $3 drop from the previous week.
Gasoline inventories saw another rise for the week ending February 14, increasing by 537,000 barrels, following a 2.83-million-barrel gain the week before. Gasoline inventories are now 1% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Distillate inventories continued their decline, dropping 1.109 million barrels in the most recent week, following a 2.69-million-barrel drop the prior week. As of February 14, distillate inventories were already 12% below the five-year average, based on the latest EIA figures.
Cushing inventories, which store and trade benchmark crude at the key delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma, fell by 1.182 million barrels during the week.
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