Crude oil inventories in the United fell this week by 6.083 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute (API) data showed on Tuesday, with analysts expecting a 1.667 million barrel draw.
The total number of barrels of crude oil gained so far this year is still more than 38 million barrels.
This week, SPR inventory dropped for the fourth week in a row losing 1.1 million barrels for the week to reach 366.9 million barrels-the lowest amount of crude oil in the SPR since October 1983.
U.S. crude oil production held steady during the week ending April 14, at 12.3 million bpd. U.S. production is now 800,000 bpd lower than the peak production seen in March 2020, but 400,000 bpd higher than this time last year.
The price of WTI was trading down on Tuesday in the run-up to the data release, well below $80 per barrel on renewed market fears over a possible bank collapse contagion after Q1 figures from First Republic bank showed deposits were down 40%.
Brent crude was also trading down on the day.
By 4:20 p.m. EST, WTI was trading down $1.67 (-2.12%) on the day at $77.09 per barrel, a loss of about $3.70 per barrel on the week. Brent crude was trading down $2.03 (-2.45%) on the day at $80.71-down roughly $4 per barrel from this same time last week.
WTI was trading at $77.13 shortly after the data release.
Gasoline inventories fell also, by 1.919 million barrels after falling in the week prior by 1 million barrels. Distillate inventories rose by 1.693 million barrels after decreasing by 1.9 million barrels in the week prior.
Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, increased by 465,000 barrels-after falling by 600,000 barrels last week.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More