Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) climbed 200,000 barrels to 402.5 million barrels in the week ending June 13. Inventory levels in the SPR are hundreds of millions shy of the levels in inventory prior to the SPR withdrawal that took place under the Biden Administration.
Crude oil prices were trading up prior to the crude data release by the U.S. Energy Information Administration after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a build of 6.037 million barrels in U.S. crude oil inventories amid a small gasoline draw. The Brent benchmark was trading up 0.01% at 10:28 a.m. ET at $74.50—a roughly $1 per barrel increase over this same time last week. The WTI benchmark, meanwhile, was trading up 0.18% at $71.33—a roughly $1.60 per barrel rise over last week’s levels.
Gasoline inventories fell in the week ending February 28, by 1.249 million barrels, adding onto the previous week’s 537,000-barrel increase. As of last week, gasoline inventories are now just slightly below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.