US crude oil inventories increased by 2.69 million barrels in the week ending July 31, contrary to expectations for a 2-million-barrel draw. This followed a build of 3.3 million barrels in the previous week.
Excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), commercial crude stocks have declined by more than 58 million barrels over the past 16 weeks and are down 7.2 million barrels since the start of the year. The SPR itself fell by a further 2.9 million barrels to 304.8 million, bringing it closer to its estimated operational minimum range of 250–300 million barrels.
At Cushing, Oklahoma, inventories rose by 2.36 million barrels. US crude oil production edged down slightly to 13.796 million barrels per day (bpd) from 13.798 million bpd a week earlier, but remained 482,000 bpd above the level recorded a year ago.
On the products side, gasoline inventories increased by 156,000 barrels, while distillate stocks declined by 1.2 million barrels.
