On August 24, local time, the EIA said that in the last week, U.S. crude oil and refined oil inventories fell, but the large release of national emergency reserves limited the decline in commercial crude oil inventories.
Crude inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels in the week to Aug. 19 to 427.7 million barrels, while analysts polled by Reuters expected a drop of 933,000 barrels.
If the United States did not release the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) again, the decline in crude oil inventories would have been even greater.
Last week, the U.S. released more than 8 million barrels of oil from the SPR, partially offsetting lower production and a slight increase in refining activity.
Last week, U.S. crude production fell by 100,000 bpd to 12 million bpd, according to the data.
The United States is emerging as a key crude supplier as the world grapples with one of the worst energy crises in history. The trend is likely to continue as OPEC+ has limited spare capacity and the European Union plans to reduce crude oil purchases from Russia in December.
Crude prices have soared after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine disrupted energy supplies, and a lack of liquidity has sent crude futures markets “extreme” volatility and could force Saudi Arabia to further reduce supply.