Crude Oil Inventories Surge as SPR Releases Additional Barrels
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 4.2 million barrels for the week ending August 21, exceeding analyst expectations of a 1.9 million barrel build.
This increase is part of a larger trend, as commercial crude inventories excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have fallen by just over 45 million barrels over the past nineteen weeks.
The SPR released an additional 3.7 million barrels for the week ending August 21, bringing its total to 289.7 million barrels, a level 442 million barrels below maximum capacity.
In related news, U.S. crude production rose to 13.830 million barrels per day for the week ending August 14, up from 13.805 million the prior week and 503,000 barrels per day higher than a year earlier.