The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday another build in crude oil inventories, this time of 3.857 million barrels for the week ending June 12. In the previous week, the API shocked the market with a massive spike in crude oil inventories of 8.42 million barrels, after analysts had a far more benign draw in mind, after U.S. production continues to fall. The API’s data release came as fears that the United States may see a second wave of Covid-19. Oil production in the United States has now fallen from 13.1 million bpd on March 13 to 11.1 million bpd for June 5, according to the Energy Information Administration—a drop of a further 2 million bpd. U.S. oil production has fallen each week for the last few months, U.S. imports of crude oil started to increase mid-May, while exports started to fall. The API also reported a build of 4.267 million barrels of gasoline for week ending June 12—compared to last week’s 2.913-barrel draw. This week’s large build compares to analyst expectations for a 17,000-barrel draw for the week. Distillate inventories were up by 919,000 barrels for the week, compared to last week’s 4.271-million-barrel build. Nick Note: despite the self serving spin REALITY is DEMAND IS NOT NOT recovering. This is a ominous sign of future things to come, pun intended!