US Crude Inventories Fall as SPR Withdrawals Continue
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that US crude oil inventories dropped by 2.09 million barrels in the week ending October 2. This decline followed a previous week's increase of 1.019 million barrels. Over the past 25 weeks, commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), have decreased by more than 38 million barrels. However, inventories remain nearly 13 million barrels higher than at the start of the year, partly due to withdrawals from the SPR.
During the week ending October 2, an additional 800,000 barrels were drawn from the SPR, reducing its total inventory to 283 million barrels. This level is 431 million barrels below the SPR's maximum capacity. The operational minimum for the SPR is between 250-300 million barrels, below which efficiency in pumping and processing oil may be compromised.
US crude oil production rose to 13.955 million barrels per day (bpd) in the week ending September 25, up from 13.939 million bpd the previous week. This marks an increase of 450,000 bpd compared to the same period last year. As of Wednesday at 3:46 pm ET, Brent crude was trading at $100.90 per barrel, up 0.62% for the day but down $1.40 from the previous week. WTI crude was trading at $89.71 per barrel, up 0.31% for the day and nearly $1 higher than a week prior.
Gasoline inventories fell by 1.37 million barrels in the week ending October 2, following a previous week's increase of 2.991 million barrels. According to the latest EIA data, gasoline inventories were 7% below the five-year average for this time of year. Distillate inventories rose by 461,000 barrels after a decline of 286,000 barrels the previous week, but they remain 14% below the five-year average. Cushing inventory, the storage hub for WTI Crude futures, gained 866,000 barrels.