API Reports Significant Draw in Crude Oil Inventories

Crude oil inventories in the United States fell this week by 6.490 million barrels for the week ending May 17, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). 

For the week prior, the API reported a 2.48 million barrel hike in crude inventories.

On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.5 million barrels as of May 24. Inventories are now at 369.3 million barrels, well below the 656 million barrels in inventory in June 2020.

Oil prices were trading down ahead of the API data release on Tuesday, with the market fearing weak gasoline demand and economic data.               

At 4:29 pm ET, Brent crude was trading down $0.86 on the day at $83.36—up roughly $.40 per barrel from this time last week. The U.S. benchmark WTI was also trading down on the day at 0.98% to $79.05 —essentially flat week over week.   

Gasoline inventories fell this week as well, by 452,000 barrels, after last week’s 2.088 million barrel increase. As of last week, gasoline inventories were about 2% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data. 

Distillate inventories rose this week by 2.045 million barrels, after last week’s 320,000-barrel dip. Distillates were 7% below the five-year average for the week ending May 17, the latest EIA data shows. 

Cushing inventories saw a draw this week, according to API data, falling 1.706 million barrels after increasing by 1.77 million barrels in the previous week.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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