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Informist, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025

MUMBAI – Crude oil inventories in the US, excluding those in strategic petroleum reserves, fell by 6 million barrels to 420.7 million barrels in the week ended Friday, the US Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had expected the stocks to fall by 1.5 million barrels from the previous week. US crude oil inventories were about 6% below the five-year average for this time of the year, the report said.

Petrol inventories fell by 2.7 million barrels from the previous week to 223.6 million barrels in the week ended Friday. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had forecast a fall of 1.3 million barrels. The petrol stocks were 1% below the five-year average for this time of the year, the report said. Distillate fuel stocks rose by 2.3 million barrels to 116.0 million barrels in the week ended Friday against a rise of 700,000 barrels as expected in a poll by Dow Jones. The distillate fuel stocks were around 13% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

According to the report, refinery utilisation rose to 96.6% from 96.4% the previous week. Crude oil production in the US, the largest producer of the commodity, rose 55,000 barrels per day to 13.38 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday.

At 1138 IST, the most-active October contract of West Texas Intermediate crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange was 0.6% higher at $63.10 per barrel.

US crude oil imports averaged 6.5 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday, down 423,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, US crude oil imports have averaged around 6.4 million barrels a day, 2.3% lower than the corresponding period last year.

Of the top 10 countries that export crude oil to the US, imports from seven fell during the week. Imports from Canada fell the most by 210,000 barrels per day to 3.84 million barrels per day. Imports from Brazil fell by 164,000 barrels per day to 181,000 barrels per day, and imports from Colombia fell by 160,000 barrels to 184,000 barrels per day. 

On other hand, imports from Iraq rose the most by 186,000 barrels per day to 328,000 barrels per day and imports from Saudi Arabia rose by 91,000 barrels per day to 364,000 barrels per day, according to the report. 

For the week ended Friday, crude oil exports by the US rose 795,000 barrels per day to 4.37 million barrels per day. Strategic petroleum reserves rose by 200,000 barrels to 403.4 million barrels during the week.

Inventories of crude oil at Cushing in Oklahoma, a key delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude, were at 23.5 million barrels in the week ended Friday, up 400,000 barrels from last week. Cushing is the designated delivery point for NYMEX crude oil futures contracts. Market participants closely monitor stockpiles at Cushing, as it has a storage capacity of about 90 million barrels.

End

US$1 = INR 86.97

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

Reported by Taniva Singha Roy

Edited by Subhojit Sarkar

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