American crude oil inventories posted the third straight decline in the past week, hitting the lowest level in 19 months.
- Crude oil inventories for the week ending August 20 stood at 1.053 billion barrels, the lowest level since January 2020. Commercial crude oil excluding the strategic petroleum reserve fell 0.7% to 432.6 million barrels, the first time this year that inventories were 6% below the five-year average.
- Declines were seen in inventories of motor gasoline which fell by 2.2 million barrels, along with the drop in finished gasoline and blending components inventories. Propane inventories grew 2.0 million barrels. Total commercial petroleum inventories dropped by 4.8 million barrels.
- Oil refinery inputs averaged 16.1 million barrels per day, 66,000 barrels a day higher than the previous week, as refineries operated at 92.4%. Gasoline production and distillate fuel production increased, while crude oil imports declined.
Total products supplied averaged 21 million barrels a day over the last four-week period. This is 13.4% higher than the same period in 2020.
WTI crude oil is up 0.13%, and Brent crude is up 0.65%.
Source: Energy Information Administration