Oil Prices Jump As Crude, Fuel Inventories Continue To Fall

The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a draw in crude oil inventories of 6.108 million barrels for the week ending September 17.

It exceeded the analyst expectations who had estimated a loss of 2.400 million barrels for the week.

In the previous week, the API reported a draw in oil inventories of 5.437 million barrels—a larger loss than the 3.903 million barrel draw that analysts had predicted.

Oil prices rose on Tuesday leading up to the data release, with U.S. crude oil inventories falling weekly, OPEC+ production that is not as strong as the market had anticipated, and depressed oil production in the United States as a result of the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.

WTI rose 0.31% on Tuesday afternoon leading up to the data release.

At 2:42 p.m. EST, WTI was trading at $70.51—a roughly $0.30 gain on the week and $0.22 gain on the day. Brent crude was trading up 0.70% for the day at $74.44.

Oil inventories in the United States have drawn down considerably so far in 2021, shedding more than 76 million barrels according to API data, and below pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, the EIA’s latest data suggests that crude oil inventories in the United States are now 7% under the five-year average for this time of year, at 417.4 million barrels.

Most recently, U.S. oil production has been down more than a million bpd over the last couple of weeks, sitting at just 10.1 million bpd  for week ending September 10 as Hurricane Ida continued to shut in oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico. 16.64% of GoM oil production is still shut in today, according to the BSEE.

The API reported a draw in gasoline inventories of 432,000 barrels for the week ending September 17—compared to the previous week's 2.761-barrel draw.

Distillate stocks saw a decrease in inventories this week of 2.720 million barrels for the week, compared to last week's 2.888-million-barrel decrease.

Cushing inventories fell this week by 1.748 million barrels after last week's 1.345-million-barrel decrease.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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