Crude Oil, Commodity Stocks Rise, Pressures Returning

U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 1.96 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 13, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Analysts were expecting a drop of 100,000 barrels.

For the previous week, the API reported a 2.79 million barrel drop in crude oil inventories.

So far this year, crude oil inventories are 10.9 million barrels below year-to-date levels, according to API data.

On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude stocks in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) increased by 0.6 million barrels since September 13. Inventories are now at 380.6 million barrels. The SPR is now up nearly 34 million from its multi-decade low last summer, though still down 254 million from when President Biden took office.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday ahead of the release of API data. At 2:31 pm ET, Brent crude was trading up $0.87 (1.20%) on the day at $73.62, up nearly $4 from this time last week. U.S. benchmark WTI also traded up $1.07 (+1.53%) on the day at $71.16, up nearly $5 a barrel from last Tuesday, as the market nervously waits a decision by the Fed on interest rates.

Gasoline inventories rose this week by 2.34 million barrels, more than offsetting a 513,000-barrel drop last week. As of last week, gasoline inventories are 1 percent below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.

Distillate stockpiles rose 2.3 million barrels, adding to last week’s smaller gain of 191,000 barrels. Distillates were already about 8 percent below the five-year average for the week ended Sept. 6, the latest EIA data showed.

Cushing inventories saw another big draw, with a loss of 1.4 million barrels, according to API data, on top of a 2.6 million barrel draw the previous week.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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