Crude Inventories Rise By 2.6 Million Barrels; Oil Markets Remain Under Strong Pressure

On April 9, 2025, EIA released its Weekly Petroleum Status Report. The report indicated that crude inventories increased by +2.6 million barrels from the previous week, compared to analyst consensus of +2.2 million barrels.

Total motor gasoline inventories declined by -1.6 million barrels, compared to analyst forecast of -1.7 million barrels. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 3.5 million barrels from the previous week.

U.S. crude oil imports declined by 277,000 bpd from the previous week, averaging 6.2 million bpd. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged 6.1 million bpd.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased from 396.4 million barrels to 396.7 million barrels. The U.S. continues to buy oil for strategic reserves, but replenishes them at a moderate pace despite the recent pullback in oil prices.

Domestic oil production decreased from 13.58 million bpd to 13.458 million bpd. It should be noted that production fell below the psychologically important 13.5 million bpd level.

WTI oil is trying to settle below the $56.50 level as traders react to the EIA report. It remains to be seen whether traders will focus on falling U.S. oil production as China introduced 84% tariffs on U.S. goods.

Brent oil pulled back below the $60.00 level as traders remained focused on tariff drama.

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