U.S. Crude Oil Inventories Drop

In the week ending October 24, U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 6.9 million barrels, following a decline of 1 million barrels the week prior. This update comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which noted that current stockpiles have now fallen to 416 million barrels, sitting 6% below the five-year average for this period.

Interestingly, this report came a day after API data indicated a notable drop of 4 million barrels in crude oil inventories.

Early on Wednesday, crude oil prices were on the rise, with Brent crude trading at $64.74 per barrel—a slight increase of $0.34 (+0.53%) that day, also marking a $2 rise compared to last week. WTI saw a smaller increase of $0.20 (+0.33%) per barrel in morning trading.

Turning to motor gasoline, the EIA reported a decrease in inventories by 5.9 million barrels, which followed a 2.1 million barrel drop the week before. Gasoline production saw a slight decline, averaging 9.6 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, middle distillate inventories decreased by another 3.4 million barrels, with production down by 134,000 barrels per day, averaging 4.5 million barrels per day. Currently, distillate inventories are about 8% below the typical levels for this time of year.

Over the past four weeks, the overall volume of product supplied reached 20.8 million barrels per day, reflecting a 0.9% decrease compared to last year. Gasoline demand averaged 8.7 million barrels per day, while the distillate supply average held steady at 4 million barrels—a drop of 1.5% from a year ago.