Crude oil reserves in the United States increased by 1.019 million barrels in the week ending September 25, 2023. This comes as analysts expected a decrease of 1.9 million barrels. In the previous week, U.S. crude oil reserves had grown by 1.786 million barrels. According to data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), commercial crude oil reserves, excluding strategic reserves (SPR), have decreased by 38 million barrels over the past 24 weeks, but U.S. crude oil reserves have increased by nearly 13 million barrels this year.
Decrease in Diesel Fuel Reserves
Meanwhile, diesel fuel reserves in the United States have decreased by 286,000 barrels. This decline adds to the 2.164 million barrel decrease from the previous week. EIA data shows that diesel fuel reserves during this reporting period are 12 percent lower than the five-year average. Additionally, gasoline reserves increased by 2.991 million barrels in the week ending September 25, while they had decreased by 2.16 million barrels the week before.
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Impact on Oil Production
U.S. oil production decreased to 13.939 million barrels per day in the week ending September 18, down from 13.944 million barrels the previous week, but up by 438,000 barrels compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) decreased by 800,000 barrels to 283.8 million barrels. This amount is still 430 million barrels less than the maximum capacity of strategic reserves. The minimum operational threshold for strategic reserves is between 250 and 300 million barrels, below which storage may face challenges in pumping and processing oil.
While Brent oil prices fell to $102.32 on Wednesday, this price reflects an increase of nearly $5 compared to the previous week. Additionally, WTI prices reached $88.96, showing only a $0.20 decrease from the week before.
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