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Informist, Thursday, May 21, 2026

MUMBAI – US crude oil inventories, excluding those in the strategic petroleum reserves, fell by 7.9 million barrels to 445 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 fall of 3 million barrels. US crude oil inventories were about 2% below the five-year average for this time of the year, according to the report.    

Petrol inventories fell 1.5 million barrels from the previous week to 214.2 million barrels in the week ended Friday. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had estimated petrol inventories to fall by 2.7 million barrels. Distillate fuel stocks rose by 400,000 barrels to 102.9 million barrels. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had expected a fall of 1.2 million barrels in distillate stocks. Distillate fuel stocks were around 9% below the five-year average for this time of the year.       

According to the report, refinery utilisation fell slightly to 91.6% from 91.7% the previous week. Crude oil production in the US, the largest producer of the commodity, fell 8,000 barrels per day to 13.70 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday. 

US crude oil exports rose 112,000 barrels per day to 5.6 million barrels per day, according to the report. Strategic petroleum reserves fell 9.9 million barrels to 374.2 million barrels during the week.

US crude oil imports averaged 6.0 million barrels per day during the week, up 116,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, US crude oil imports averaged around 5.8 million barrels per day, 1.5% less than the corresponding period last year.

Of the top 10 countries that export crude oil to the US, imports from four countries fell in the week ended Friday. Imports from Canada fell the most, by 275,000 barrels per day to 3.8 million barrels. On the other hand, imports from Mexico rose the most, by 312,000 barrels per day to 383,000 barrels per day, according to the report.

Inventories of crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, a key delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude, were at 25.8 million barrels in the week ended Friday, largely unchanged from the previous week. 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 0955 IST, the most-active July contract of crude oil on the NYMEX was up 0.9% at $99.18 per barrel.

End

US$1 = INR 96.13

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

Reported by Reshma Ravi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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