US Gasoline, Distillate Inventories Continue to Fall as Crude Stocks Hold

The American Petroleum Institute reported that US crude oil inventories increased by 1.786 million barrels in the week ending September 18, after a 7.14 million barrel rise the previous week. Commercial crude oil stocks have lost 39 million barrels over the last 23 weeks, but US crude inventories have risen nearly 12 million barrels year-to-date.

On the same week, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) saw another 400,000 barrels leave to support commercial inventories, bringing the total SPR inventory to 284.6 million barrels - 429 million barrels short of full capacity. The SPR's operational minimum is 250-300 million barrels. US crude production for the week ending September 11 dropped to 13.944 million barrels per day (bpd), down from the previous week's 13.944 bpd, but up 462,000 bpd from a year ago.

Brent crude was down $2.48% at $97.85 per barrel, while WTI crude lost $3.50% at $89.14 per barrel. Gasoline stocks fell by 2.16 million barrels in the week ending September 18, down from a 1.46 million barrel rise the prior week. The five-year average for this time of year is 5% lower than current levels. Distillate inventories declined by 2.164 million barrels, with the five-year average being 13% below this period.

Cushing inventory, the delivery hub for WTI Crude futures, increased by 2.082 million barrels after a 246,000 barrel drop the prior week.