Oil rises after API reports cause crude and fuel inventories to fall

According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 1.58 million barrels in the week ended October 11. Analysts had expected an increase of 3.2 million barrels.

For the week before, API reported a 10.9 million barrel increase in crude oil inventories.

Crude oil inventories have fallen by 7 million barrels so far this year year-to-date, according to API data.

On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) increased by 1 million barrels as of October 11. SPR inventories now stand at 383.9 million barrels, up more than 36 million from the decade-long low last summer, but 251 million less than since President Biden took office. At the current recovery rate, it will take more than five years to return to January 2020 levels.

At 4:53 p.m. ET, Brent crude was trading at $74.43, up $0.18 (+0.24%) for the day – a loss of nearly $3 per barrel from last Tuesday. The US benchmark WTI also rose slightly over the course of the day, up USD 0.03 (+0.04%) at USD 70.61 – a loss of USD 3 per barrel compared to last Tuesday.

Gasoline inventories fell by 5.926 million barrels this week, compared to the 557,000 barrel decline last week. According to the latest EIA data, gasoline inventories last week were 4% below the five-year average for this time of year.

Distillate inventories fell by 2.672 million barrels, on top of last week’s decline of 2.59 million barrels. The latest EIA data shows distillates were already about 9% below the five-year average in the week ending Oct. 4.

Cushing inventories – the benchmark crude stored and traded at the key delivery point for U.S. futures contracts in Cushing, Oklahoma – rose by 410,000 barrels, according to API data, on top of the previous week’s increase of 1.359 million barrels .

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

More top reads from Oilprice.com