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Informist, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026

MUMBAI – Crude oil inventories in the US, excluding those in the strategic petroleum reserve, rose by 17.4 million barrels to 424.4 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 inventory to fall by 600,000 barrels. The US crude oil inventories are 2% below the five-year average for this time of the year, according to the report.

Petrol inventories in the US fell by 1.0 million barrels from the previous week to 208.7 million barrels, 6% below the five-year average for this time of the year, the report showed. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had estimated petrol inventories to fall by 1.3 million barrels. Both finished petrol and blending component inventories decreased last week, the report added. 

Inventories of distillate fuel fell by 100,000 barrels to 107.1 million barrels from the previous week. This is 12% below the five-year average for this time of the year. Analysts had forecast distillate stocks to fall by 1.6 million barrels. Propane or propylene inventories rose by 1.9 million barrels to 105.0 million barrels, which is 31% above the five-year average for this time of the year, according to the report.

Refinery utilisation in the US fell slightly to 96.2% from 96.5% the previous week. The country's crude oil production was up by 1,000 barrels to 13.81 million barrels from the week ended Friday. 

The country's crude oil exports fell by 627,000 barrels to 3.1 million barrels per day, according to the report. The country's strategic petroleum reserve fell to 298.7 million barrels from 304.8 million barrels during the week.

The country's crude oil imports averaged 7.3 million barrels per day last week, up 1.14 million barrels from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.3 million barrels per day, 0.1% more than the same period last year.

Of the top 10 countries that export crude oil to the US, imports from three fell in the week ended Friday. Imports from Mexico declined the most by 85,000 barrels to 303,000 barrels per day. Imports from Venezuela rose the most by 332,000 barrels per day to 743,000 barrels per day, the report showed. 

Inventories of crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, a major delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude, rose by 1.6 million barrels to 22.6 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 90 million barrels. 

At 0945 IST, the most active September crude oil contract on the NYMEX was down 0.66% to $82.27 per barrel.

End

US$1 = INR 95.33

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

Reported by Krupa Biju

Edited by Himanshi Gupta

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