U.S. Crude, Product Inventory Builds Set To Deliver Cheap Gas For Holidays

Crude oil inventories in the United States rose this week by 939,000 barrels for the week ending December 15, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API), after a 2.349-million-barrel draw in crude inventories in the week prior. Analysts had expected inventories to fall by 2.233 million barrels.

 API data shows a net build in crude oil inventories in the United States of just over 18 million barrels so far this year.

On Monday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 600,000 barrels. Inventories are now at 352.5 million barrels, with total purchases for the SPR totaling nearly 6 million barrels since the Biden Administration began its buyback program. 

Oil prices were trading up ahead of API data release as the year draws close to the end. At 12:25 pm ET, Brent crude was trading up 1.59% at $79.19—nearly $6 per barrel more than where it was this same time last week. The U.S. benchmark WTI was trading up on the day by 1.71% at that time, at $79.28–more than $10 per barrel up from this time last week. 

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