Crude oil inventory in the United States increased by 1.837 million barrels this week for the week ending the 22nd of December, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API), following a 939,000-barrel build the previous week.
According to API data, the United States’ crude oil inventory have increased by a net amount of slightly over 21 million barrels thus far this year.
This week saw a 480,000 barrel decrease in petrol inventories following a 669,000 barrel increase the week before. Petrol inventories as of last week are 2% less than the five-year average for this time of year.
In addition, distillate stocks increased this week, adding just 270,000 barrels after increasing by 2.738 million barrels the week before.
The distillate yield is about 10% lower than the five-year average.
After increasing by 1.853 million barrels the week before, Cushing inventories increased by 1.57 million barrels.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) saw an increase in crude oil stocks of 800,000 barrels, according to a report released by the Department of Energy (DoE) on Monday. With over 6 million barrels purchased for the SPR since the Biden Administration started its buyback programme, inventories currently stand at 353.3 million barrels.
As the end of the year approaches, oil prices were trading lower prior to the release of API data. At 10:00 am ET, the price of Brent crude was up slightly over $1 per barrel, or 0.67%, from where it was at the same time the previous week.
At that moment, the U.S. benchmark WTI was down 0.85% for the day at $74.93, which is almost $5 less per barrel than it was at the same time last week.