Crude oil inventories in the United States decreased by 1.9 million barrels to 410.6 million barrels for the week ending October 23. This decline is based on new data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Commercial inventories are now 4 percent lower than the five-year average for this time period.
Analysis of Oil Inventories and Prices
The data released by the EIA follows a report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) that was published a day earlier. The API report indicates that crude oil inventories decreased by 2.031 million barrels during the same period. This decline in inventories could be a sign of increasing demand for crude oil, which in turn could affect prices. Meanwhile, crude oil prices in New York rose at 10:26 AM local time. Brent crude prices reached $115.61 per barrel, reflecting an increase of $1.73 or 1.52 percent for the day. Additionally, WTI crude prices also rose by $2.51 to $102.41 per barrel.
Read more: Decrease of 2.031 Million Barrels in U.S. Crude Oil Inventories for the Week Ending October 23
Changes in Gasoline Production and Demand
Regarding gasoline, the EIA reported that inventories increased by 3.9 million barrels, while the previous week saw a decrease of 3 million barrels. This data indicates that gasoline production has averaged 9.2 million barrels per day. For distillates, inventories decreased by 1.5 million barrels, and production reached 5.2 million barrels per day. This decline in inventories suggests lower demand for this type of fuel, and distillate inventories are now 10 percent lower than the five-year average.
Overall, the average supply of petroleum products as a measure of oil demand in the United States over the past four weeks reached 20.8 million barrels per day, indicating a 0.2 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Gasoline demand averaged 8.6 million barrels per day over these four weeks, and the four-week average supply of distillates reached 4.0 million barrels, reflecting a 0.6 percent decrease compared to last year.
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