U.S. Crude Inventories Continue To Decline

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated the inventory draw this week for crude oil to be 1.076 million barrels after analysts predicted a larger draw of 1.769 million barrels.

U.S. crude inventories have shed some 80 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 22 million barrels since the start of 2020. Global crude stockpiles are also low.

In the week prior, the API reported a draw in crude oil inventories of 2.025 million barrels after analysts had predicted a build of 675,000 barrels.

Oil prices were trading down sharply on Tuesday in the run-up to the data release on profit-taking after Monday's big price spike, and on reports that Russia was withdrawing some troops from the Ukrainian border.

On Monday, crude prices had spiked after the Ukrainian President sarcastically suggested that Russia was planning an invasion on Wednesday.

WTI was trading down 3.60% at $92.02 per barrel on the day at 2:40 p.m. EST—but still up nearly $3 per barrel on the week. Brent crude was trading down 3.34% on the day at $93.26—also up nearly $3 per barrel on the week.

U.S. crude oil production rebounded in the most recent reporting week. For the week ending February 4—the last week for which the Energy Information Administration has provided data—crude oil production in the United States increased by 100,000 bpd to 11.6 million bpd. This is down 1.5 million bpd from the pre-pandemic era.

This week, the API reported a draw in gasoline inventories at 923,000 barrels for the week ending February 11—compared to the previous week's 1.138 million barrel draw.

Distillate stocks saw a decrease in inventory of 546,000 barrels for the week, after last week's 2.203 million barrel decrease. Cushing saw a 2.382 million-barrel decrease this week. Cushing inventories stood at 27.7 million barrels as of February 4—down from 60 million barrels at the start of 2021, and down from 37 million barrels at the end of 2021.

At 4:37 pm, EST, WTI was trading at $91.94, with Brent trading at $93.13.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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