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Informist, Thursday, Jul. 16, 2026

MUMBAI – Crude oil inventories in the US, excluding those in the strategic petroleum reserves, fell by 1.7 million barrels to 409.7 million barrels in the week ended Friday, the US Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had estimated inventories to fall by 900,000 barrels. US crude oil inventories were about 6% below the five-year average for this time of the year, according to the agency's report.

Petrol inventories in the US fell by 1.5 million barrels from last week to 210.5 million barrels in the week ended Friday, the report showed. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had estimated petrol inventories to fall by 300,000 barrels. Distillate fuel inventories were up 4.6 million barrels from the previous week at 108.2 million barrels. Analysts had forecast distillate stocks to fall by 100,000 barrels. Distillate fuel stocks were around 11% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

Refinery utilisation in the US rose to 96.2% from 95.8% the previous week. Crude oil production in the country, the largest producer of the commodity, rose slightly by 1,000 barrels per day to 13.861 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday.

US crude oil exports were up by 459,000 barrels at 3.72 million barrels per day, according to the report. The country's strategic petroleum reserves fell by 3.0 million barrels to 316.5 million barrels during the week.

US crude oil imports averaged 5.7 million barrels per day during the week, up by 60,000 barrels per day from last week, the report showed. Over the past four weeks, US crude oil imports have averaged around 5.5 million barrels per day, 12.2% lower than in the corresponding period last year.

Of the top 10 countries that export crude oil to the US, imports from four fell in the week ended Friday. Imports from Brazil declined the most, by 113,000 barrels per day to 64,000 barrels per day. On the other hand, imports from Venezuela rose the most, by 193,000 barrels per day to 675,000 barrels per day, according to the report.

Inventories of crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, a key delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude, rose by 400,000 barrels to 20.0 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 0911 IST, the most-active August crude oil contract on NYMEX was down 0.2% at $79.44 per barrel.

End

US$1 = INR 96.27

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

Reported by Shreya Shetty

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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