US oil stocks fall more than expected

U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 4.339 million barrels in the week ended September 20, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Analysts expected a decrease, but a much smaller decrease, to -1.1 million barrels.

For the previous week, the API reported a 1.96 million barrel increase in crude oil inventories.

So far this year, crude oil inventories are 15 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 1.3 million barrels since September 20. Inventories are now at 381.9 million barrels. The SPR is now up about 35 million from its multi-decade low last summer, though still down 253 million from when President Biden took office.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday ahead of API data after an announcement by China that it would use monetary stimulus to kick-start its economy. Other catalysts helping to push prices higher are the threat of supply disruptions in the United States as a result of the hurricane and continued fears of tensions in the Middle East.

As of 3:15pm ET, Brent crude was trading up $1.30 (+1.76%) on the day at $75.20 – up about $1.60 from this time last week. The US WTI benchmark also traded up $1.24 (+1.76%) on the day at $71.61, up nearly $0.50 a barrel from last Tuesday.

Gasoline inventories also fell by a substantial amount this week, falling by 3.438 million barrels, more than offsetting last week’s gain of 2.34 million barrels. As of last week, gasoline inventories are just below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.

Distillate stockpiles fell by 1.115 million barrels, compared with last week’s increase of 2.3 million barrels. Distillates were about 9 percent below the five-year average for the week ended Sept. 13, the latest EIA data showed.

Cushing stocks also fell, falling 26,000 barrels, according to API data, on top of a 1.4 million barrel draw the previous week.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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