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Informist, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025

MUMBAI – US crude oil inventories, excluding those in strategic petroleum reserves, fell by 1.3 million barrels to 424.4 million barrels in the week ended Friday, the US Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. This is less than the fall of 1.9 million barrels expected by analysts polled by Dow Jones. The US crude oil inventories were about 4% below the five-year average for this time of the year, the report said. 

Petrol inventories rose by 4.8 million barrels from the previous week to 225.6 million barrels in the week ended Friday. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had expected a rise of 1.2 million barrels in petroleum inventories. Petrol stocks were slightly below the five-year average for this time of the year. Distillate fuel stocks rose by 1.7 million barrels to 118.5 million barrels in the week ended Friday. Analysts polled by Dow Jones expected a fall of 300,000 barrels in distillate stocks. Distillate fuel stocks were around 6% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

According to the report, refinery utilisation rose slightly to 94.8% from 94.5% the previous week. Crude oil production in the US, the largest producer of the commodity, fell by 10,000 barrels per day to 13.84 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday.

In the week ended Friday, crude oil exports by the US rose by 655,000 barrels per day to 4.66 million barrels per day, the report showed. Strategic petroleum reserves rose by 200,000 barrels to 412.2 million barrels during the week.

US crude oil imports averaged 6.5 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday, up 64,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, US crude oil imports averaged around 6.4 million barrels per day, over 1.8% lower than the corresponding period last year. 

Of the top 10 countries that export crude oil to the US, imports from five countries fell in the week ended Friday. Imports from Nigeria fell the most by 215,000 barrels per day to 2,000 barrels per day. On other hand, imports from Iraq rose the most by 231,000 barrels per day to 306,000 barrels per day, the report showed. 

Inventories of crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, a key delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude, fell by 700,000 barrels to 20.9 million barrels in the week ended Friday. Cushing is the designated delivery point for NYMEX crude oil futures. Market participants closely monitor stockpiles at Cushing, as it has a storage capacity of about 90 million barrels. 

At 0836 IST, the most-active February contract of crude oil on NYMEX was up nearly 1% at $56.21 per barrel. 

End

US$1 = INR 90.35

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Reported by Udita S. Jaiswal

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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