U.S. Crude Oil Inventories Post Third Straight Weekly Drop

Dow Jones05-13 22:55

By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude oil inventories fell for a third consecutive week as exports increased and refineries stepped up their capacity use, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 4.3 million barrels to 452.9 million barrels in the week ended May 8 and were about 0.3% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Crude stocks were expected to have fallen by 2.3 million barrels, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.

Oil held in the SPR was down by 8.6 million barrels at 384.1 million barrels on emergency releases by the Department of Energy. Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, fell by 1.7 million barrels to 27.4 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.7 million barrels a day, up by 137,000 barrels a day from the week before. Crude oil imports rose by 424,000 barrels a day to 5.9 million barrels a day, and exports increased by 742,000 barrels a day to 5.5 million barrels a day.

Refinery capacity use rose by 1.6 percentage points to 91.7%, with crude input to refineries up by 369,000 barrels a day at 16.4 million barrels. Refinery runs were forecast to have risen by half of a percentage point in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories fell by 4.1 million barrels to 215.7 million barrels in a 13th straight weekly draw, and were 5% below the five-year average. Gasoline demand slipped by 59,000 barrels a day to just under 8.8 million barrels a day. Distillate fuel stocks edged up by 190,000 barrels to 102.5 million barrels and were 9% below the five-year average.

Gasoline inventories were forecast to have fallen by 2.6 million barrels and distillate stocks were expected to have fallen by 2.1 million barrels.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended May 8: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates        Refinery Use 
EIA data:          -4.3          -4.1            0.2                 1.6 
Forecast:          -2.3          -2.6           -2.1                 0.5

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 13, 2026 10:55 ET (14:55 GMT)

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U.S. Crude Oil Inventories Post Third Straight Weekly Drop

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