U.S. Crude Stocks Edge Lower as Oil Tops $100
The American Petroleum Institute estimated U.S. crude inventories fell by about 300,000 barrels in the week ending Sept. 4, after a 2.6 million-barrel draw the prior week. Oil prices rose sharply, with Brent trading above $100 and WTI near $96, as continued withdrawals from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve helped bolster commercial supplies, according to reporting by Oilprice.com.
Why It Matters
SPR withdrawals have been offsetting deep commercial inventory declines over recent weeks, keeping year-to-date U.S. crude stocks from falling further; continued draws are reducing the reserve toward its operational minimum, which could limit future ability to support supplies if market stress returns.
Key Facts
- API estimated crude change (week ending Sept. 4): -300,000 barrels
- API estimated crude change (prior week): -2,600,000 barrels
- Commercial crude change excluding SPR (last 21 weeks): -just over 48,000,000 barrels
- U.S. crude inventories year-to-date change: +2,800,000 barrels
- SPR withdrawal (week ending Sept. 4): 1,200,000 barrels withdrawn from SPR this week to aid commercial inventories
The American Petroleum Institute estimated U.S. crude oil inventories declined by roughly 300,000 barrels in the week ending Sept. 4, following a 2.6 million-barrel draw the week before, Oilprice.com reported. API data show commercial crude stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve have fallen by just over 48 million barrels across the past 21 weeks, while total U.S. crude stocks remain about 2.8 million barrels higher year-to-date thanks largely to SPR withdrawals.
For the reporting week ending Sept. 4, another 1.2 million barrels were taken from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bolster commercial supplies, leaving the SPR at about 285.4 million barrels. That level is around 446 million barrels below the reserve's maximum capacity; analysts often cite an operational minimum in the 250-300 million barrel range below which pumping and processing the reserve can become more difficult.
U.S. oil production showed a small increase in the latest available weekly data, with output for the week ending Aug. 28 at 13.862 million barrels per day, up from 13.843 million bpd the prior week and about 423,000 bpd higher than a year earlier. Prices reacted to the tighter-sounding supply picture: at 3:16 p.m. ET Wednesday, Brent was trading around $101.46 per barrel (up about 3.6% on the day) and WTI around $96.44 (up about 3.7%), each roughly $6 higher than the same time last week.
Refined-product stocks showed mixed moves. Gasoline inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels in the latest week after rising 300,000 barrels the week before; gasoline stocks had already been about 6% below the five-year average for this time of year, per the EIA. Distillate inventories gained 2 million barrels after a 300,000-barrel loss the prior week, but they were still noted as being roughly 14% below the five-year average heading into the reporting period. At the delivery hub for WTI futures in Cushing, Oklahoma, stocks declined by 300,000 barrels over the week after a 200,000-barrel rise the prior week.
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