Crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 2.0 million barrels during the week ending July 17, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The build brought total commercial stockpiles to 411.7 million barrels, a level that remains 6% below the five-year seasonal average.
The EIA's weekly report broadly confirmed figures released a day earlier by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which had estimated a crude oil inventory build of 2.603 million barrels for the same reporting period. Despite the inventory increases, crude futures continued to trade higher on Wednesday morning as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East persisted. A resolution to the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz between the United States and Iran remained elusive.
At 9:52 a.m. New York time, Brent crude futures were trading at $93.34 per barrel, up $2.33, or 2.56%, on the day, and approximately $9 per barrel higher than the same time the previous week. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was also in positive territory, gaining $1.97 per barrel, or 2.34%, to trade at $86.31.
Product inventories also rose across the board during the reference week. Total motor gasoline stockpiles increased by 800,000 barrels, reversing the prior week's draw of 1.5 million barrels. Average daily gasoline production rose to 9.7 million barrels per day.
Middle distillate inventories increased by 1.4 million barrels, with average daily production climbing to 5.3 million barrels. Despite the weekly build, distillate stockpiles remain 10% below their five-year average, underscoring ongoing tightness in that segment of the market. On the demand side, total products supplied — a widely used proxy for U.S. oil consumption — averaged 20.4 million barrels per day over the most recent four-week period, down 1% compared with the same period in the prior year.
Gasoline demand averaged 8.9 million barrels per day over the same four-week span. Distillate demand averaged 3.7 million barrels per day, representing a year-over-year increase of 2.2%. The data was reported by Julianne Geiger for OilPrice.com.
Source: oilprice.com