Oil reserve gets the lowest level since 2002
Oil reserve decreased by about 2.4 million barrels; as a result, the current volume, which stood at 580 million barrels, represents a drop of 0.4%.
Firstly, the strong demand from refiners and other users paying expensive prices to secure supplies, caused the main storage centers to experience a significant drop in their stockpiles.
Prices rise since Russia invaded Ukraine
As a result, of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the sanctions to the country are hitting the oil worldwide market; also, some markets were already suffering from the oil-tight supply, before.
Moreover, in the United States buyers are pulling barrels out of stock; the country is already using the strategic reserves.
We also recommend: US sanctions on Russia will come with a price tag for most US citizens. Read here.
Oil inventories fall
Firstly, for the end of February analysts expected a 2.7 million-barrel increase; however, inventories, fell by 2.6 million barrels in the last week, to 413.4 million barrels.
Also, the Cushing, Oklahoma hub is the delivery point for U.S. crude; which is an important indicator for the freely available supply.
Along these days, the center saw how its stock fell by 972,000 barrels to 22.8 million barrels, reaching its lowest level since September 2018.
Secondly, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s inventories fell to 580 million barrels; that was before the Biden Administration and the International Energy Agency, said they would release 60 million barrels of reserves in the next months.
Thirdly, distillate stocks, jet and diesel fuel; also fell, dropping by 573,000 barrels to 119 million barrels. The U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 468,000 barrels. The refinery crude rose by 152,000 barrels per day.
Finally, the net U.S. crude imports fell by 2.2 million barrels per day; besides overall crude exports jumped to 3.8 million bpd, as international prices are higher than U.S. barrels; as a result, U.S. exports are more attractive to other buyers.
For more information visit, U.S. Energy Information Administration.
