{
  "id": 149245,
  "title": "US Crude Oil Inventories Build As Washington Talks Up Potential Peace Deal",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/04/us-crude-oil-inventories-build-as-washington-talks-up-potential-peace",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-08-04T20:44:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "OilPrice",
    "slug": "oilprice",
    "url": "https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Crude-Oil-Inventories-Build-As-Washington-Talks-Up-Potential-Peace-Deal.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The American Petroleum Institute reported a 2.69 million barrel increase in US crude oil inventories for the week ending July 30, bucking market expectations for a 2 million barrel decrease. This comes after US crude oil inventories decreased by 3.3 million barrels the previous week. Over the past sixteen weeks, commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), have shrunk by nearly 58 million barrels, with year-to-date US crude inventories dropping by only 7.2 million barrels, according to API data. The SPR's inventory stood at 304.8 million barrels for the week ending July 31, marking a significant drop from the 2023 low reached during the Biden administration's extensive drawdown and the lowest level in over 43 years. At this level, the SPR is 427 million barrels below its maximum capacity. The generally accepted operational minimum for oil in the SPR is between 250-300 million barrels; a level below this could hinder efficient oil pumping and processing. US production for the week ending July 24 fell to 13.796 million barrels per day (bpd), slightly down from 13.798 million bpd the week before but up by 482,000 bpd compared to the previous year. As of 7:00 pm ET on Tuesday, Brent crude was trading down 5.41% to $79.24 per barrel, a nearly $5 per barrel decrease from the previous week. WTI crude was also down 5.75% to $75.97 per barrel, more than $3 per barrel lower than a week earlier. Gasoline inventories expanded by 156,000 barrels in the week ending July 31, while they had increased by 918,000 barrels the previous week. Notably, gasoline inventories were 6% below the five-year average for this time of year in the week prior to the latest reporting period. Distillate inventories dropped by 1.2 million barrels after rising by 355,000 barrels in the week before. Distillate inventories were 9% below the five-year average at the start of this reporting period, according to the latest EIA data. Lastly, Cushing inventory—the stockpile at the delivery hub for WTI Crude futures contracts—rose by 2.358 million barrels over the reporting period, following a decrease of 273,000 barrels in the week ahead of it.",
  "summary": "The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 2.69 million barrels in the week ending July 30, despite analyst expectations for a 2 million barrel draw. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 58 million barrels over the last sixteen…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}