Crude oil prices fell today after the Energy Information Administration reported a rise in crude oil inventories of 4.5 million barrels for the week to July 29.
This compares to a draw of almost the same size the previous week. U.S. crude inventories stood at 426.6 million barrels, 7% below the five-year average for this time of year.
The American Petroleum Institute yesterday reported an unexpected rise in crude oil inventories of more than 2 million barrels, while analysts had expected a modest draw of less than 500,000 barrels for the week to July 29.
For fuels, the EIA assessed a mixed picture.
Gasoline stockpiles added a modest 200,000 barrels in the week to July 29, with production averaging 9.3 million barrels a day.
That compares with a decline of 3.3 million barrels and production of 9.7 million barrels a day in the previous week.
In middle distillates, the EIA estimated inventories fell 2.4 million barrels for the week to July 29, with production averaging 4.9 million barrels a day.
That compares with an 800,000-barrel draw in the previous week and an average production of 5 million barrels a day.
Refineries processed 15.9 million barrels per day of crude oil last week, operating at 91% of capacity. That compares with 16 million barrels a day for the previous week, with refineries operating at 92.2 percent of capacity.
The middle distillate supply situation is tightening, with US exports hitting records as European buyers shun Russian diesel and other distillate fuels. However, this raises concerns for the domestic market, where demand is expected to increase in the coming weeks as the harvest season begins in the Midwest.
Meanwhile, oil prices were weighed down by worries about a recession in the United States. Traders are also looking ahead to the OPEC+ meeting today, where the cartel will say whether or not it will increase production in September.
At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $100.40 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $94.24 a barrel, both down from the open.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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