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Informist, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026

 

MUMBAI – US crude oil inventories, excluding those in strategic petroleum reserves, rose around 16 million barrels to 435.8 million barrels in the week ended Friday, the US Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had estimated a rise of 1.2 million barrels. US crude oil inventories were about 3%  below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the report.  

 

Petrol inventories fell 1 million barrels from the previous week to 254.8 million barrels in the week ended Friday. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had expected a fall of 500,000 barrels in petrol inventories. Distillate fuel stocks rose 300,000 barrels to 120.4 million barrels during the week. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had expected a fall of 1.9 million barrels in distillate stocks. 

Distillate fuel stocks were around 5% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

 

Refinery utilisation stood at 88.6%, according to the report. Crude oil prodcution in the US, the largest producer of the commodity, fell 33,000 barrels per day to 13.70 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday. 

 

US crude oil exports fell 277,000 barrels per day to 4.31 million barrels per day, according to the report. Strategic petroleum reserves was unchanged at 415.4 million barrels during the week. 

 

US crude oil imports averaged 6.7 million barrels per day in the latest week, up 136,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, US crude oil imports averaged around 6.5 million barrels per day, 4.9% higher 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 Saudi Arabia fell the most, by 264,000 barrels per day, to 444,000 barrels per day. On the other hand, imports from Venezuela rose the most, by 291,000 barrels per day, to 339,000 barrels per day, according to the report.

 

Inventories of crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, a key delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude, rose 900,000 barrels to 24.9 million barrels in the week ended Friday. Cushing is the designated delivery point for NYMEX crude oil futures. Market participants closely monitor stockpiles in Cushing, which has a storage capacity of about 90 million barrels.

 

At 1009 IST, the most active April contract of crude oil on the NYMEX was up 0.2% at $65.57 per barrel.

 

	Inventory (mln barrels)	Weekly change (%)
Crude oil	435.8	3.8
Petrol	254.8	(-)0.4
Kerosene-type jet fuel	42.3	(-)3.3
Distillate fuel oil	120.4	0.2
Propane/propylene	72.5	(-)2.2
Unfinished oils	82.0	(-)0.2
Other oils	291.4	(-)0.3

 

End

 

US$1 = INR 90.87

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

 

Reported by Reshma Ravi

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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