US Crude Oil Inventories Rise, But SPR Remains Below Capacity
US crude oil inventories saw a significant increase in the week ending September 18, rising by 1.786 million barrels according to the American Petroleum Institute (API). This growth comes after a substantial gain of 7.14 million barrels in the previous week. However, commercial crude oil inventories excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have lost 39 million barrels over the last 23 weeks.
The SPR has been releasing oil to aid commercial inventories, with another 400,000 barrels leaving the reserve in the latest reporting period. This brings the total inventory held in the SPR to 284.6 million barrels, which is still 429 million barrels shy of its maximum capacity.
The generally accepted operational minimum for oil in the SPR is between 250-300 million barrels, below which the reserve may find it difficult to pump and process oil efficiently.