U.S. crude oil inventories fell for the third consecutive week, while gasoline and distillate fuel inventories increased. Venezuelan crude oil imports hit a near 10-year high.

U.S. crude oil inventories fell for the third consecutive week, while gasoline and distillate fuel inventories increased. Venezuelan crude oil imports hit a near 10-year high.

According to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday, U.S. crude oil inventories fell for the third consecutive week, while gasoline and distillate fuel inventories increased.

The EIA reported that for the week ending September 11, commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), decreased by 640,000 barrels to 423.4 million barrels, 1% higher than the five-year average for the same period. This inventory decline was smaller than the market's expected drop of 1.4 million barrels.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) inventories decreased by 403,000 barrels to 285 million barrels. Crude oil inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the NYMEX delivery hub, decreased by 342,000 barrels to 21.5 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories rose by 794,000 barrels to 207.7 million barrels, 5% below the five-year average for the same period; daily gasoline demand increased by 247,000 barrels to 8.8 million barrels. The market had previously expected gasoline inventories to decrease by 800,000 barrels.

Distillate fuel inventories rose by 1.6 million barrels to 107.9 million barrels, 13% below the five-year average for the same period. The market had previously expected distillate fuel inventories to remain unchanged.

The EIA estimates U.S. crude oil production at 13.9 million barrels per day, roughly unchanged from the previous week. Crude oil imports increased by 234,000 barrels per day to 7.1 million barrels per day; crude oil exports increased by 1.4 million barrels per day to 4.8 million barrels per day, the largest weekly increase since late May.

Imports of Venezuelan crude oil have hit a record high this year, with shipments reaching their highest level since 2017.

Venezuelan crude oil arrivals in the U.S. last week were slightly below 800,000 barrels per day, bringing us closer to the 1 million barrels per day mark seen in the late 2010s. Meanwhile, the Trump administration and the country are working on a series of oil deals to attract capital and boost production.

Refinery utilization was at 96.8%, down from 97.8% the previous week; crude oil processing volume decreased by 256,000 barrels per day to 17.3 million barrels per day. The market had previously expected refinery utilization to fall by 0.6 percentage points.

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