Marking the third-straight week of hefty gains,
Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, not counting those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), saw a weekly rise of 4.2 million barrels to 447.2 million barrels in the seven days ending February 23, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its report published on Wednesday. The country’s inventories thus reached about 1% below the five-year average for this time of year. Refinery inputs averaged 14.7 million barrels per day (bpd), an increase of 100,000 bpd compared to the previous seven days. Meanwhile, refineries operated at 81.5% of their operable capacity. In the meantime, gasoline production grew, averaging 9.4 million bpd. Crude oil imports went down by 269,000 bpd to average 6.4 million bpd. Total commercial petroleum inventories declined by 3.2 million barrels.
Surprise Crude Build Weighs on Oil
Crude oil inventories in the United States rose this week, by 8.428 million barrels for the week ending February 23, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). The API reported a 7.168-million-barrel rise in crude inventories in the week prior. T he Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.8 million barrels as of February 23.
Inventories are now at 360.3 million barrels—the highest level since May 2023.
Gasoline inventories fell this week by 3.272 million barrels, compared to the small 415,000 barrel build in the week prior. As of last week, gasoline inventories were about 2% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data. Distillate inventories also fell this week, by 523,000 barrels, on top of last week’s 2.908 million barrels drop. Distillates were already 10% below the five-year average for the week ending February 16, the latest EIA data shows. Cushing inventories rose again this week, by 1.825 million barrels after rising by 668,000 barrels in the previous week.NN: oil inventories are soaring. At best you can say their are some supply slow downs by 10 days because of shipping delays. But no supply disruptions. And demand is slowing globally. And inventories are INCREASING!!!