The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a build this week for crude oil of 3.825 million barrels, while analysts predicted a draw of 1.1 million barrels.
The build comes as the Department of Energy released 5.9 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in Week Ending July 1, to 492 million barrels-the lowest it's been since 1985.
U.S. crude inventories have shed some 68 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 5 million barrels since the start of 2020, according to API data.
In the week prior, the API reported a large draw in crude oil inventories of 3.799 million barrels after analysts had predicted a draw of just 110,000 barrels.
WTI continued to slide on Wednesday on recession fears. WTI was trading down 1.55% on the day in the runup to the release at $97.96-a nearly $14 slide on the week. Brent crude was trading down 1.95% on the day at $100.80-a roughly $17 drop on the week.
U.S. crude oil production data for the week ending June 24 rose to 12.1 million bpd, up from an average of 12 million bpd in the prior two weeks.
This week, the API reported a draw in gasoline inventories of 1.814 million barrels for the week ending July 1, compared to the previous week's 2.852-million-barrel build.
Distillate stocks saw an inventory draw of 635,000 barrels for the week, compared to last week's 2.613-million-barrel increase.
Cushing saw an increase of 459,000 barrels this week, compared to law week's draw. Official EIA inventory Cushing inventories for week ending June 24 was 21.261 million, down from 22.043 in the prior week.
At 4:37 pm, ET, WTI was trading down at $98.42 (-1.09%), with Brent trading down at $100.30 (-2.38%).
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More