Crude oil inventories in the United States rose slightly this week, by 347,000 barrels for the week ending August 16, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API), after analysts predicted a 2.9 million barrel dip.
For the week prior, the API reported a 5.205-million-barrel decrease in crude inventories.
So far this year, crude oil inventories are close to where they were at the start of the year, having increased by 760,000 barrels, according to API data.
On Monday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by another 0.7 million barrels as of August 16. Inventories are now at 377.2 million barrels.
Oil prices rise on Tuesday ahead of the API data release. At 10:25 am ET, Brent crude was trading up $0.58 (+0.75%) on the day at $78.24. While up on the day, it is down more than $2.40 per barrel from this time last week. The U.S. benchmark WTI was also trading up on the day by $0.63 (+0.85%) at $75.00-down more than $3 per barrel from this time last week.
Gasoline inventories fell this week, by 1.043 million barrels, on top of last week's 3.689-million-barrel decrease. Analysts had predicted a 400,000-barrel draw. As of last week, gasoline inventories are 3% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.
Distillate inventories saw a decrease this week of 2.247 million barrels, compared to last week's 612,000-barrel increase. Analysts had forecast a 200,000 barrel build. Distillates were about 7% below the five-year average for the week ending August 9, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventories saw a draw of 648,000 barrels, according to API data, on top of the the 2.277-million-barrel draw from the previous week.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More