The American Petroleum Institute estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 9.0 million barrels in the week ending November 6, a sharp reversal from the prior week’s 5.267 million barrel fall. It is the first build in six weeks. Commercial crude inventories excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve have still lost more than 54 million barrels over the last 30 weeks, and 3 million barrels over the course of this year, according to API data.
The reserve continued to cushion the balance. Some 2.7 million barrels of crude left the SPR during the week to aid commercial inventories, bringing the total held in the reserve down to 279.5 million barrels, 434 million barrels below maximum capacity and inside the 250 to 300 million barrel range generally accepted as its operational minimum, below which pumping and processing become difficult.
Products built as well. Distillate inventories rose 1.5 million barrels, compared with a 270,000 barrel draw the week before, although distillate stocks were 13 percent below the five year average heading into the reporting period on the latest EIA data. Gasoline inventories were essentially flat, rising by just 4,000 barrels after a 1.427 million barrel build the prior week, with stocks 2 percent below the five year average. Cushing inventories, held at the WTI delivery hub, gained 182,000 barrels after a 511,000 barrel gain the previous week.
Supply is not the constraint. US production for the week ending October 30 reached a new record of 14.003 million barrels a day, up from 13.992 million the week prior and 352,000 barrels a day above a year ago, on EIA data cited by the API report. The official EIA weekly petroleum report, due Wednesday, will confirm or revise the API estimate.