API Reports Barely Moving US Crude Oil Inventories
The latest update from the American Petroleum Institute (API) shows that US crude oil inventories have barely budged, despite a significant drop in imports and exports.
In the week ending August 14, API estimated that crude oil inventories fell by 328,000 barrels. This is a stark contrast to the previous week when they rose by 9.072 million barrels due to increased imports, decreased exports, and a large injection from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
However, commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost over 49 million barrels in the last 18 weeks, with US crude inventories up only 1.88 million for the year, according to API data.
The SPR has continued to be a key player in managing US crude oil inventories. In the week ending August 14, another 5.3 million barrels left the SPR to aid commercial inventories, bringing the new total inventory held in the SPR to 293.4 million barrels, still short of its maximum capacity by 438 million barrels.
The generally accepted operational minimum for oil in the SPR is between 250-300 million barrels, below which the reserve may struggle to pump and process oil efficiently.