Crude oil inventories in the United States fell this week by 2.428 million barrels for the week ending June 7, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API), after analysts had forecast a 1.75 million barrel draw.
For the week prior, the API reported a surprise 4.052 million barrel build in crude inventories.
On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.3 million barrels as of June 7. Inventories are now at 370.5 million barrels—the highest level since March of 2023, but still well below the 656 million barrels in inventory in June 2020.
Oil prices were trading up ahead of the API data release on Tuesday. At 3:23 pm ET, Brent crude was trading up $0.11 on the day at $81.84—up roughly $4 per barrel from last week as the market recovered from last week’s price dropoff following the OPEC decision. The U.S. benchmark WTI was also trading up on the day at +0.14% to $77.85—a nearly $4.50 gain week over week.
Gasoline inventories also fell by 2.549 million barrels this week, partially offsetting last week’s 4.026-million-barrel increase. As of last week, gasoline inventories were about 1% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.
Distillate inventories rose this week by 972,000 barrels, on top of last week’s 1.975-million-barrel rise. The latest EIA data shows that the distillates were 7% below the five-year average for the week ending May 31.
According to API data, Cushing inventories fell this week by 1.937 million barrels after increasing by 983,000 barrels in the previous week.
