The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United rose by 2.86 million barrels for the week ending January 17. Analysts had expected a 3.7-million-barrel build.

For the week prior, the API reported a 1 million barrel build in U.S. crude oil inventories, while product inventories saw a hefty build for multiple weeks in a row.

In 2024, crude oil inventories dropped by more than 12 million barrels, according to the API’s inventory data, with the downward trend continuing beyond the new year.  

Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.2 million barrels as of January 24. SPR inventories are now at 394.8 million barrels, a figure that is still 239 million less than inventories carried prior to the SPR withdrawal that took place under the Biden Administration.  

At 4:10 pm ET, Brent crude was trading up $0.45 (+0.58%) on the day at $77.53—a nearly $2 per barrel dip from this time last week. The U.S. benchmark WTI was also trading up on the day by $0.69 (+0.94%) at $73.86—also roughly $2 less per barrel than last week’s level.  

Gasoline inventories rose this week by 1.89 million barrels after last week’s large 3.2-million-barrel increase. As of last week, gasoline inventories are 1% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.

Distillate inventories saw a large decline of 3.75 million barrels, which more than offsets last week’s 1.9-million-barrel increase. Distillate inventories were already about 6% below the five-year average as of the week ending January 17, the latest EIA data shows.

Cushing inventories—the benchmark crude stored and traded at the key delivery point for U.S. futures contracts in Cushing, Oklahoma—fell by 144,000 barrels, according to API data, after rising by 500,000 barrels in the previous week.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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