The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 1.057 million barrels for the week ending April 4, after a 6.037 million barrel spike in the prior week.

So far this year, crude oil inventories have climbed nearly 22 million barrels, according to Oilprice calculations of API data.

Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) climbed 0.3 million barrels again to 396.7 million barrels in the week ending April 4. Inventory levels in the SPR are hundreds of millions shy of the levels in inventory prior to the SPR withdrawal that took place under the Biden Administration.  

At 4:00 pm ET, Brent crude was trading down another $2.72 (-4.24%) on the day following days of rough pricing terrain, leaving the international benchmark at just $61.49—the lowest price since February 2021 as Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs and OPEC’s unwinding of its production cuts sours sentiment. Fundamentally, neither changes in inventories, production, or demand statistics support the $13+ dip in pricing that we’ve seen over the last week.

The U.S. benchmark WTI is showing equal signs of strain, trading down $2.56 (-4.22%) at $58.14 $71.22—also $13 per barrel decrease from last week’s level.

Gasoline inventories rose in the week ending April 4, by 207,000 barrels, after falling by 1.628  million barrels in the week prior. As of last week, gasoline inventories are now 2% above the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.

Distillate inventories fell this week, falling by 1.844 million barrels in the latest week. In the week prior, distillate inventories fell by 11,000 barrels. Distillate inventories were already about 6% below the five-year average as of the week ending March 28, the latest EIA data shows.

Cushing inventories—the benchmark crude stored and traded at the key delivery point for U.S. futures contracts in Cushing, Oklahoma—rose by 636,000 barrels, the API data showed, after last week’s 2.244 million barrel hike.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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