FX.co ★ US Crude Inventories Fall in Early September

US crude oil inventories declined by 300,000 barrels in the week ended September 4, following a 2.6 million-barrel draw the previous week. Over the past 21 weeks, commercial crude stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have fallen by just over 48 million barrels, although overall US crude inventories remain 2.8 million barrels higher year to date.

To support commercial supply, an additional 1.2 million barrels were released from the SPR, reducing total SPR holdings to 285.4 million barrels. This level is close to the generally accepted operational minimum of 250–300 million barrels.

At Cushing, Oklahoma, inventories fell by 300,000 barrels, partially reversing a 200,000-barrel increase the week before. US crude production in the week ended August 28 edged up to 13.862 million barrels per day from 13.843 million barrels per day.

In refined products, gasoline inventories declined by 1.9 million barrels, while distillate inventories increased by 2 million barrels.