US crude oil inventories rose unexpectedly by 3.3 million barrels in the week ending July 24, compared with market expectations for a 2.5 million-barrel decline. This increase followed a 2.6 million-barrel build in the previous week.
Despite these recent gains, commercial crude stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have fallen by more than 54 million barrels over the past 15 weeks and are still about 3 million barrels lower on a year-to-date basis. During the latest week, a further 3.7 million barrels were drawn from the SPR, bringing holdings down to 307.7 million barrels—just above the widely cited operational minimum range of 250–300 million barrels.
At the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub, inventories declined by 273,000 barrels, following a 737,000-barrel drop the week before. US crude production ticked down to 13.80 million barrels per day (bpd) from 13.86 million bpd. Gasoline inventories increased by 918,000 barrels, while distillate stocks slipped by 125,000 barrels.
