US Crude Oil Stock Sees Sharp Drawdown Amid Low SPR Levels

The US crude oil stock drew down sharply in the week ending July 24, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute (API). The drawdown of 3.296 million barrels is a significant contrast to the previous week's increase of 2.603 million barrels.

Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have lost just over 54 million barrels over the last fifteen weeks, with US crude inventories down only 3 million for the year. The SPR drawdown has kept inventories in check, but at a very low level.

The SPR's new total is 307.7 million barrels, far lower than its 2023 low and the lowest level in over 43 years. This is also below the generally accepted operational minimum for oil in the SPR of between 250-300 million barrels, which could make it difficult to pump and process oil efficiently.

The latest data from the API also showed that US production for the week ending July 17 fell to 13.798 million bpd, down slightly from the previous week's 13.861 million bpd but up 525,000 bpd from a year earlier.