U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 2 million barrels for the week ending May 2, according to new data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The decline came after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise build of 4.49 million barrels in crude stocks on Tuesday, along with drops in gasoline and distillate inventories.
Ahead of the EIA’s report, crude oil prices were already trending lower. By 11:01 a.m. in New York, Brent crude was down $0.45, or 0.72%, trading at $61.70 per barrel—nearly $1.50 lower than the same time last week. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also slipped, trading at $58.72 per barrel, a decrease of $0.37, or 0.63%, and down about $1 week-over-week.
The EIA also reported changes in fuel inventories. Motor gasoline stocks rose by 200,000 barrels, while daily production increased to 9.7 million barrels, up from 9.5 million barrels the previous week. In contrast, gasoline inventories had fallen by 4 million barrels a week earlier.
For middle distillates, including diesel and heating oil, inventories dropped by 1.1 million barrels, with production increasing slightly to 4.7 million barrels per day. That follows a 900,000-barrel inventory build in the previous week, when daily output stood at 4.6 million barrels. Distillate stocks remain 13% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Overall fuel demand continues to grow. Total products supplied over the past four weeks averaged 19.8 million barrels per day, a 0.6% increase compared to the same period last year. Distillate consumption rose by 3.1%, while gasoline use was up 3.5% year-over-year.
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