U.S. Crude Oil Stockpiles Rise for Fifth Straight Week

Dow Jones03-25 22:57

By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude oil inventories increased for a fifth consecutive week amid a drop in exports, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 6.9 million barrels to 456.2 million barrels in the week ended March 20, and were about 0.1% above the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Crude stocks were expected to have fallen by 200,000 barrels, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.

Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, rose by 3.4 million barrels to 30.9 million barrels.

Oil stored in the SPR was unchanged at 415.4 million barrels. The Department of Energy late Friday began releasing the first of a planned 172 million barrels of oil from the reserve to address the disruption of supply through the Strait of Hormuz. The release is part of the 400 million barrels in emergency stocks committed by member countries of the International Energy Agency.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production last week at just under 13.7 million barrels a day, down by 11,000 barrels a day from the week before. Crude imports fell by 730,000 barrels a day to 6.5 million barrels a day, and exports dropped by 1.6 million barrels a day to 3.3 million barrels a day.

Refineries ran at 92.9% of capacity, up from 91.4% the previous week, with crude input to refineries increasing by 366,000 barrels a day to 16.6 million barrels a day. Refinery runs were forecast to have risen by 0.6 of a percentage point in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories fell by 2.6 million barrels to 241.4 million barrels and were 3% above the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand averaged 8.9 million barrels a day, up by 196,000 barrels a day. Gasoline stocks were expected to have fallen by 2.4 million barrels.

Distillate fuel stocks increased by 3 million barrels to 119.9 million barrels versus expectations of a 1.8 million barrel draw, and were 0.4% below the five-year average for the time of year.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended March 20: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates        Refinery Use 
EIA data:           6.9          -2.6            3.0                 1.5 
Forecast:          -0.2          -2.4           -1.8                 0.6

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

March 25, 2026 10:57 ET (14:57 GMT)

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U.S. Crude Oil Stockpiles Rise for Fifth Straight Week

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