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Oil prices stayed near $80.50 after US crude inventories surged

Commercial crude stocks jumped to 424.4 million barrels in the week ended August 7, while gasoline and distillate inventories fell below five-year averages, pointing to a物流 bottleneck.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Energy

WTI crude traded near $80.50 after a weekly build in US commercial inventories that was the largest in more than three and a half years, even as the market had recently been described as physically short. WTI’s move reflected that mismatch, dropping from just above $82.00 to about $79.50 and then buying back roughly $2.50 within about 90 minutes, according to FXStreet.

Commercial stocks rose to 424.4 million barrels in the week ended August 7 versus an expectation for a 1.4 million barrel draw, and the total still sits around 2% below the five-year average. The build was attributed largely to logistics issues, with exports weaker and imports rising by 1.14 million barrels a day to 7.3 million, plus tracking analysis showing most of the accumulation on the Gulf Coast.

The report said refinery activity remained firm, with refineries running at 96.2% of operable capacity and crude inputs edging higher, so the inventory picture was not explained by lower demand. Product data reinforced that point, with gasoline inventories down to 208.7 million barrels, about 6% under the five-year average, and distillates at 107.1 million barrels, roughly 12% below, while European refining margins hit fresh records.

In FXStreet’s read, that combination distinguishes a glut in storage from a system bottleneck that keeps cargoes from moving. The International Energy Agency cut its 2026 demand growth outlook, now expecting demand to contract by 1.6 million barrels a day, and OPEC trimmed its 2026 growth estimate to about 600K barrels a day from 780K, while both updates describe demand hit by prices and constrained transport rather than a weaker economy.

Latest closeWTI crude $82.68 ▼0.6%|Gasoline (RBOB) $2.882 ▼8.1%

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