Oil Prices Fall Further As U.S. Crude Oil Inventories See Major Build

Crude oil inventories in the United States rose by a staggering 11.9 million barrels for week ending November 3, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API), after a 1.347-million-barrel rise in crude inventories in the week prior, API data showed.

API data now shows a net build in crude oil inventories in the United States of 10.568 million barrels so far this year.

On Monday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) stayed the same for the fifth week in a row, with the SPR inventory still sitting at a near 40-year low of 351.3 million barrels, with total purchases for the SPR coming in at less than 4 million barrels since the Biden Administration began its buyback program. Earlier this week, the DoE announced a supplemental solicitation for another 3 million barrels of oil for delivery in January 2024.

Oil prices were trading down ahead of API data release, with Brent trading down 3.93% at $81.83 at 4:01 p.m. ET—a roughly $5.50 decrease week over week. The U.S. benchmark WTI was trading down on the day by 4.05%, at $77.55. WTI is down nearly $3.50 per barrel from this same time last week.

Gasoline inventories fell this week by 400,000 barrels, on top of the 357,000 barrel decrease in the week prior. Gasoline inventories are 2%  the five-year average for this time of year, last week’s EIA data shows. Distillate inventories rose this week, by 1.0 million barrels, in contrast to the 2.484-million-barrel draw in the week prior, and are now about 12% below the five-year average for this time of year.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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