Home›Commodities›Energy›US crude inventories rise as Hormuz shipping troubles…

US crude inventories rise as Hormuz shipping troubles weigh on oil

API data for the week ending July 17 showed US crude stocks up 2.603 million barrels, while SPR holdings fell to 316.5 million barrels.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Energy

Oil prices drew support from a tighter US strategic reserve backdrop even as inventories rose, according to US supply data cited by OilPrice. The American Petroleum Institute estimated that US crude oil inventories increased by 2.603 million barrels in the week ending July 17, after a 564,000 barrel decline in the prior week.

OilPrice said commercial crude inventories excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve have been declining over three months, with total draws of just over 57 million barrels across the last 13 weeks. Still, it noted that inventories are only down about 7 million barrels for the year so far, with draws from the SPR helping keep the decline in check.

For the week ending July 17, OilPrice reported that 5.1 million barrels left the SPR, taking the reserve to 316.5 million barrels. It also said SPR inventories are about 420 million barrels below maximum capacity, with an operational minimum generally accepted between 250 and 300 million barrels.

OilPrice linked the market move to rising tensions in the region, noting Brent and WTI were up in US trading hours as US/Iran tensions escalated. It reported Brent at $91.36 (+2.40%) and WTI at $84.51 (+2.46%) at 4:28 pm ET on Tuesday.

Latest closeWTI crude $79.00 ▼0.8%|Brent $84.94 ▼0.0%

More like this

Sources