The American Petroleum Institute (API) has reported a large draw of 4.210 million barrels in U.S. crude inventories, compared to last week's 1.586-million-barrel build.
Analysts were expecting a modest inventory draw of 92,000 barrels for the week. The total number of barrels of crude oil moves so far this year is 9 million, according to API data.
On Monday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell by 300,000 barrels last week, with the SPR inventory still sitting at a near 40-year low of 351.3 million barrels, with total purchases for the SPR coming in at less than 4 million barrels since the Biden Administration began its buyback program.
Oil prices were trading up on Tuesday ahead of API data release, with Brent trading up 0.53% at $91.19 at 1:18 p.m. ET-a $2.80 dip week over week, while WTI was trading up on the day at 0.82%, at $89.55. WTI is down more than $1 per barrel from this same time last week.
Gasoline inventories rose this week by 3.946 million barrels, compared to the 70,000 barrel draw in the week prior. Gasoline inventories are roughly 2% less than the five-year average for this time of year. Distillate inventories rose by 349,000 barrels, compared to the 1.698-million-barrel dip in the week prior, and are now about 13% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Cushing inventories rose this week by 705,000 barrels, after falling 828,000 barrels last week, leaving about 22 million barrels in Cushing.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More