USA Crude Oil Stocks Drop More Than 4MM Barrels WoW

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), decreased by 4.3 million barrels from the week ending May 1 to the week ending May 8.

That’s what the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report, which was released on May 13 and included data for the week ending May 8.

This EIA report showed that crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 452.9 million barrels on May 8, 457.2 million barrels on May 1, and 441.8 million barrels on May 9, 2025. Crude oil in the SPR stood at 384.1 million barrels on May 8, 392.7 million barrels on May 1, and 399.7 million barrels on May 9, 2025, the report revealed.

In a statement posted on its website on May 11, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced contract awards for the exchange of approximately 53.3 million barrels of crude from the SPR’s Bayou Choctaw, Bryan Mound, Big Hill, and West Hackberry sites.

“Today’s announcement marks the next phase of DOE’s execution of the United States’ 172 million barrel contribution to the International Energy Agency’s collective action to stabilize global oil supplies,” this statement noted.

“This action builds on earlier exchange actions, which have already awarded approximately 80 million barrels from the Bayou Choctaw, Bryan Mound, and West Hackberry sites,” it added.

Total petroleum stocks - including crude oil, total motor gasoline, fuel ethanol, kerosene type jet fuel, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, propane/propylene, and other oils - stood at 1.620 billion barrels on May 8, according to the EIA’s latest weekly petroleum status report. Total petroleum stocks were down 13.7 million barrels week on week and up 2.6 million barrels year on year, the report pointed out.

“At 452.9 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 0.3 percent below the five-year average for this time of year,” the EIA said in its latest weekly petroleum status report.

“Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 4.1 million barrels from last week and are five percent below the five-year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline inventories increased, while blending component inventories decreased last week,” it added.

“Distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.2 million barrels last week and are about nine percent below the five-year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories increased by 3.6 million barrels from last week and are 55 percent above the five year average for this time of year,” it continued.

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.4 million barrels per day during the week ending May 8, according to the report, which noted that this was 369,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average.

“Refineries operated at 91.7 percent of their operable capacity last week,” the EIA stated in its report.

“Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 9.8 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production decreased, averaging 4.8 million barrels per day,” it added.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 5.9 million barrels per day last week, the report noted. It pointed out that this was an increase of 424,000 barrels per day from the previous week. “Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 5.8 million barrels per day, 1.0 percent more than the same four-week period last year,” the EIA said in its report.

“Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 303,000 barrels per day, and distillate fuel imports averaged 214,000 barrels per day,” it added.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.1 million barrels per day, up by 1.1 percent from the same period last year, the EIA stated in its report.

“Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.9 million barrels per day, down by 0.8 percent from the same period last year,” it added.

“Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.7 million barrels per day over the past four weeks, up by 1.3 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was down 5.5 percent compared with the same four-week period last year,” it continued.

In an oil and gas report sent to Rigzone on Monday by the Macquarie team, Macquarie strategists, including Walt Chancellor, revealed that they were forecasting that U.S. crude inventories would be down by 1.3 million barrels for the week ending May 8.

“This follows a 2.3 million barrel draw in the prior week, with the crude balance realizing looser than our expectations,” the strategists said in the report.

“Beyond normal variability in flow items, we note persistently high crude exports and SPR releases could inject considerable volatility into weekly stats,” they added.

“Amidst a backdrop of continued strong net waterborne export flows for crude and products, across the next several weeks, we look for seasonal strength in runs and potential for a step-up in SPR draws (last week at ~1.2 million barrels per day),” they added.

“Among products, while we remain attuned to the potential for demand destruction, larger impacts may not be felt until June/July with the first large-scale demand relief coming from Memorial Day effects,” they continued.

“In any event, for the week ending 5/8, from refineries, we look for a healthy increase in crude runs (+0.3 million barrels per day); timing of turnarounds remains a key variable in this week’s crude balance,” they warned.

The analysts revealed in the report that, “among net imports”, they modeled “a modest reduction, with exports (+0.7 million barrels per day) and imports (+0.4 million barrels per day) up on a nominal basis”.

“Timing of cargoes remains a source of potential volatility in the weekly crude balance,” the strategists warned in the report.

“From implied domestic supply (prod.+adj. +transfers), we look for an increase (+0.3 million barrels per day),” they went on to state.

“Rounding out the picture, we anticipate a larger SPR draw (-8.6 million barrels) for the week ending 5/8,” they said.

“Among products, we look for draws in gasoline (-5.8 million barrels) and distillate (-4.4 million barrels) with jet stocks up (+0.9 million barrels). We model implied demand for these three products at ~14.9 million barrels per day for the week ending May 8,” the strategists concluded.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com