Crude Inventories Rise By 2.7 Million Barrels, Exceeding Analyst Expectations

On April 17, 2024, EIA released its Weekly Petroleum Status Report. The report indicated that crude inventories increased by 2.7 million barrels from the previous week, compared to analyst consensus of +1.6 million barrels. At current levels, crude inventories are about 1% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

Total motor gasoline inventories declined by 1.2 million barrels, while distillate fuel inventories decreased by 2.8 million barrels.

Crude oil imports averaged 6.5 million bpd, mostly unchanged from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged 6.6 million bpd.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased from 364.2 million barrels to 364.9 million barrels as U.S. continued to buy oil for reserves despite rising oil prices.

Domestic oil production remained unchaged at 13.1 million bpd. Interestingly, U.S. oil producers are unable to raise production despite favorable market environment.

WTI oil pulled back towards the $84.00 level as traders focused on rising crude inventories. Today, traders will also stay focused on the situation in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently said that the country would make its own decisions on how to defend itself, raising worries about additional escalation. However, oil markets are moving lower, and traders bet that oil supplies would not be disrupted despite rising tensions between Israel and Iran.

Brent oil  settled below the $89.50 level amid a broad pullback in the oil markets.

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