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Informist, Friday, May 30, 2025

MUMBAI – Crude oil inventories in the US, excluding those in strategic petroleum reserves, fell by 2.8 million barrels to 440.4 million barrels in the week ended May 23, the US Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had expected the stocks to fall by 600,000 barrels. US crude oil inventories were about 6% below the five-year average for this time of the year, the report showed.

Petrol inventories fell by 2.4 million barrels from the previous week to 223.1 million barrels. Analysts at Dow Jones had forecast a decline of 300,000 barrels. Petrol stocks were around 3% below the five-year average for this time of the year, the report said. Distillate fuel stocks fell by 700,000 barrels to 103.4 million barrels in the week ended May 23. On the contrary, analysts polled by Dow Jones had expected an increase of 900,000 barrels. Distillate fuel stocks were about 17% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

According to the report, refinery utilisation fell to 90.2% from 90.7% the previous week. Crude oil production in the US, the largest producer of the commodity, rose 9,000 barrels to 13.40 million barrels per day in the week ended May 23.

At 1217 IST, the most active July contract of West Texas Intermediate crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 0.4% at $60.72 per barrel.

US crude oil imports averaged 6.4 million barrels per day in the week ended May 23, up 262,000 barrels per day from the previous week, as per the report. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged about 6 million barrels a day, 10.3% lower than the corresponding period last year.

Of the top 10 countries that export crude oil to the US, imports from three countries fell during the week. Imports of crude oil from Colombia fell the most, by 289,000 barrels per day to 150,000 barrels per day. Imports from Brazil fell by 171,000 barrels per day to merely 51,000 barrels per day and imports from Ecuador fell by 123,000 barrels to 25,000 barrels per day.

On the other hand, crude oil imports from Nigeria rose the most by 358,000 barrels per day to 364,000 barrels per day, imports from Canada rose by 287,000 barrels per day to 3.83 million barrels per day, and those from Mexico rose by 246,000 barrels per day to 588,000 barrels per day, the report showed.

For the week ended May 23, crude oil exports by the US fell by 794,000 barrels per day to 4.30 million barrels per day, the report showed. Strategic petroleum reserves rose by 800,000 barrels to 401.3 million barrels during the week.

Inventories of crude oil in Cushing, Oklahoma, a key delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude, fell by 100,000 barrels to 23.5 million barrels in the week ended Friday, according to the report. Cushing is the designated delivery point for NYMEX crude oil futures contracts. Market participants closely monitor stockpiles in Cushing, as it has a storage capacity of about 90 million barrels.

End

US$1 = INR 85.56

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

Reported by Taniva Singha Roy

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

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