US Crude Inventories Drop Amid Continued SPR Draws

US crude oil inventories decreased by 2.6 million barrels in the week ending August 28, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute (API). This marks a reversal from the previous week's increase of 4.2 million barrels.

Excluding Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) inventories, US crude oil stockpiles have declined by approximately 48 million barrels over the past twenty weeks. Despite this, overall US crude inventories remain up 3.1 million barrels for the year, kept in check by SPR draws.

The SPR has released another 3.1 million barrels to aid commercial inventories, bringing its total inventory to 286.6 million barrels, still 445 million barrels short of maximum capacity.

In related news, US crude production rose to 13.843 million barrels per day (bpd) for the week ending August 21, up from 13.830 bpd in the previous week and 461,000 bpd from a year earlier.