Importance:
Release Date:May 24, 2022
Currency:USD
Country: United States
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a small build this week for crude oil of 567,000 barrels.
The draw comes even as the Department of Energy released 6 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in Week Ending May 20.
U.S. crude inventories have shed some 75 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 18 million barrels since the start of 2020, according to API data.
In the week prior, the API reported a draw in crude oil inventories of 2.445 million barrels after analysts had predicted a build of 1.533 million barrels.
Oil prices had a modicum of calm on Tuesday, with WTI trading flat with 0% movement from Monday at $110.30 per barrel on the day at 11:21 a.m. ET—down roughly $4.50 per barrel on the week. Brent crude was trading up 0.20% on the day at $113.70—and down nearly $1 per barrel on the week, with the spread between the two benchmarks now completely evaporated.
U.S. crude oil production rose to 11.9 million bpd in the week ending May 13. Crude production in the United States is down 1.2 million barrels per day from pre-pandemic times.
This week, the API reported a large draw in gasoline inventories of 4.223 million barrels for the week ending May 20—on top of the previous week's 5.102-million-barrel draw.
Distillate stocks also saw a draw in inventory, of 949,000 barrels for the week compared to last week's 1.075-million-barrel increase.
Cushing saw a 731,000-barrel draw this week. Cushing inventories crashed to 25.839 million barrels in the week prior, as of May 13, according to EIA data—down from 59.2 million barrels at the start of 2021, and down from 37.3 million barrels at the end of 2021.