Crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 3.4 milllion barrels for the week ending August 23, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API), after analysts predicted a 3 million barrel dip.
For the week prior, the API reported a 347,000-barrel increase in crude inventories.
So far this year, crude oil inventories are more than 2 million barrels under where they were at the start of the year, having decreased by 2.642 million 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 23. Inventories are now at 377.90 million barrels.
Oil prices slipped on Tuesday ahead of the API data release. At 4:24 pm ET, Brent crude was trading down $1.76 (-2.16%) on the day at $79.67. While down on the day, it is up roughly $1.40 per barrel from this time last week. The U.S. benchmark WTI was also trading down on the day by $1.71 (-2.21%) at $75.71-up roughly $0.70 per barrel from this time last week.
Gasoline inventories fell this week, by 1.86 million barrels, on top of last week's 1.043-million-barrel decrease. Analysts had predicted a smaller 1.6-million-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 also saw a decrease this week, of 1.4 million barrels, on top of last week's 2.247-million-barrel decrease. Analysts had forecast a 1.1-million-barrel barrel decrease. Distillates were about 10% below the five-year average for the week ending August 16, the latest EIA data shows.
Cushing inventories completed the draws, with a loss of 486,000 barrels, according to API data, compared to the 648,000-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