Sharp Decline in US Crude Oil Stocks!

There was a sharp decline in the US crude oil stocks. The country's commercial crude oil inventories fell sharply, down by 7.4 million barrels last week compared to the previous week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that commercial crude oil inventories in the country fell 7.4 million barrels (1.4 percent) last week to 518.6 million barrels. The market expectation was that inventories would decrease by 3 million barrels, well below realization. Strategic crude oil stocks, which are not included in commercial crude oil stocks, remained stable at 656.1 million barrels. In the said period, the gasoline stocks of the USA increased by 700 thousand barrels (0.2 percent) to 247.8 million barrels. Oil Production Has Declined While the crude oil imports of the USA increased by 864 thousand barrels per day compared to the previous week and reached 6 million barrels, oil exports decreased by an average of 392 thousand barrels per day to 2.8 million barrels. The country's daily crude oil production decreased by 100 thousand barrels in the week of 25-31 July, and decreased to approximately 11 million barrels. According to the information in EIA's "July 2020 Short-Term Energy Outlook", the US average daily crude oil production is expected to reach 11.6 million barrels this year.