API Estimates 9.8 Million-Barrel Weekly Drop in US Crude Stocks

Commercial crude inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, have fallen by more than 73 million barrels over the past 30 weeks and by 22 million barrels this year, according to API data. The declines have been partly offset by draws from the reserve. In the latest week, 2.7 million barrels left the SPR, reducing its holdings to 279.5 million barrels—434 million barrels below maximum capacity.

The generally accepted operational minimum for the SPR is between 250 million and 300 million barrels. Below that range, the reserve may have difficulty pumping and processing oil efficiently.

US production reached a record 14.003 million barrels per day in the week ending October 30, up from 13.992 million bpd the week before and 352,000 bpd from a year earlier. At 4:24 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Brent crude was down 0.66% at $91.96 per barrel, more than $12 below its level a week earlier. WTI fell 0.55%, or $0.48, to $86.37, roughly $11 lower than a week before.

Gasoline inventories increased by 2.7 million barrels in the week ending November 6, after rising by 1.427 million barrels the previous week. The latest EIA data showed gasoline stocks had been 2% below the five-year average for the season. Distillate inventories fell by 8 million barrels, following a 270,000-barrel decline the prior week; they had been 13% below the five-year average heading into the reporting period. Cushing stocks, at the delivery hub for WTI futures, rose by 5.1 million barrels after gaining 511,000 barrels a week earlier.