Crude oil inventory in the United States decreased by 2.09 million barrels in the week ending October 2, 2023. This change occurred after the previous week saw an increase of 1.019 million barrels in crude oil inventory. According to data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), commercial crude oil inventory, excluding Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), has decreased by more than 38 million barrels over the past 25 weeks.
Changes in Inventory and Strategic Petroleum Reserves
However, U.S. crude oil inventory has increased by nearly 13 million barrels since the beginning of this year. In the week ending October 2, another 800,000 barrels were released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to assist commercial inventory, bringing the total inventory in the SPR to 283 million barrels. This amount is 431 million barrels less than the maximum capacity of the SPR. The minimum operationally accepted inventory for oil in the SPR is between 250 and 300 million barrels, and falling below this amount may cause issues in pumping and processing oil.
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Oil Production and Prices
U.S. oil production reached 13.955 million barrels per day in the week ending September 25, an increase of 16,000 barrels from the previous week, and this amount is 450,000 barrels more than the same period last year. Meanwhile, Brent crude oil price rose by 0.62% to $100.90 on Wednesday at 3:46 PM Eastern Time. Although Brent prices have increased, they have decreased by about $1.40 compared to last week. Additionally, WTI oil price also rose by 0.31% to $89.71.
Analysis of Gasoline and Diesel Inventory
In the week ending October 2, gasoline inventory decreased by 1.37 million barrels. The previous week, gasoline inventory had increased by 2.991 million barrels. In this context, gasoline inventory last week was 7% lower than the five-year average for this time of year. Furthermore, diesel inventory improved this week with an increase of 461,000 barrels, following a decrease of 286,000 barrels the previous week. Recent data shows that diesel inventory was 14% lower than the five-year average at the beginning of this reporting period.
Inventory at Cushing, the delivery hub for WTI crude oil futures contracts, improved with an increase of 866,000 barrels. These changes reflect the fluctuations in inventory and production in the U.S. oil market, and analysts are closely monitoring these trends.
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