Key facts
- The American Petroleum Institute estimated US crude oil inventories fell 9.8 million barrels in the week ending November 6.
- Distillate inventories fell 8 million barrels in the week ending November 6, after a 270,000 barrel draw the week before.
- Gasoline inventories rose 2.7 million barrels in the week ending November 6, after rising 1.427 million barrels the week before.
- Cushing inventory gained 5.1 million barrels in the week ending November 6, after gaining 511,000 barrels the previous week.
- The Strategic Petroleum Reserve held 279.5 million barrels after 2.7 million barrels were released in the week ending November 6.
- US crude production reached a record 14.003 million bpd in the week ending October 30, up 352,000 bpd from a year earlier.
The American Petroleum Institute estimated that US crude oil inventories fell by 9.8 million barrels in the week ending November 6, a larger draw than the 5.267 million barrels it estimated for the week before. The API figures are the industry group's own weekly estimates, published ahead of the US Energy Information Administration's official data.
Distillate inventories fell 8 million barrels in the week ending November 6, on top of 270,000 barrels lost the week before. The latest EIA data showed distillate stocks already 13% below the five-year average for the time of year heading into the reporting period. Gasoline inventories rose 2.7 million barrels, after a 1.427 million barrel build the previous week, and stood 2% below the five-year average in the prior week, according to the latest EIA data.
Cushing, the delivery hub for the WTI Crude futures contract, gained 5.1 million barrels after a 511,000 barrel build the previous week. API data show commercial crude inventories excluding the SPR have lost more than 73 million barrels over the last 30 weeks and 22 million barrels over the year, held in check in part by draws from the SPR.
In the week ending November 6, 2.7 million barrels left the SPR to aid commercial inventories, leaving the reserve at 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 which the reserve may struggle to pump and process oil efficiently.
US crude production for the week ending October 30 reached a record 14.003 million bpd, up from 13.992 million bpd the week before and 352,000 bpd higher than a year earlier.
At 4:24 pm ET on Wednesday, Brent crude was trading down 0.66% on the day at $91.96 a barrel, more than $12 below its level a week earlier. WTI was down $0.48, or 0.55%, at $86.37, roughly $11 lower than a week earlier.