WTI Jumps On Large Draw In Crude Inventories

The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a large draw this week for crude oil of 5.835 million barrels—more than undoing last week’s build. U.S. crude inventories have grown by roughly 25 million barrels so far this year, according to API data, but U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves fell by more than eight times that figure, at 201 million barrels.

The build in crude oil inventories was partially due to the Department of Energy’s release of 4.1 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in the week ending November 11, leaving the SPR with 392.1 million barrels.

In the week prior, the API reported a large build in crude oil inventories of 5.618 million barrels.

WTI prices shot up on Tuesday on reports that stray missiles had landed in Poland, killing two, escalating the tensions between Russia and NATO.  At 3 p.m. EST, WTI was trading up $0.86 (+1%) on the day at $86.73 per barrel. This is a decrease of roughly $3.50 per barrel from the prior week. Brent crude was trading up $0.51 (+0.55%) on the day at $93.65—a decrease of $3 per barrel on the week.

U.S. crude oil production is going nowhere, stuck in a range between 11.9 million bpd and 12.1 million bpd. For the week ending November 4, U.S. crude oil production rose 200,000 bpd to 12.1 million bpd, according to the latest weekly EIA data, 400,000 bpd more than the levels seen at the start of the year, and still a 1 million bpd shortfall from the levels seen at the start of the pandemic.

The API reported a build in gasoline inventories this week of 1.690 million barrels for the week ending November 11, compared to the previous week’s 2.553 million-barrel build. 

Distillate stocks saw a build this week of 850,000 barrels, compared to last week’s 1.773-barrel decrease.

Cushing inventories fell 842,000 barrels in the week to Nov 11. In the week prior, the API saw a Cushing decrease of 1.848 million barrels.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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