By Anthony Harrup
U.S. crude oil inventories edged up in a fourth consecutive weekly increase as both imports and exports fell and production held steady, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 95,000 barrels to 428.9 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 21 and were about 1% above the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Crude stocks were expected to have risen by 500,000 barrels, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.
Oil stored in the SPR fell by 3.7 million barrels to 289.7 million barrels on continuing emergency releases. Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were up by 1.2 million barrels at 22.4 million barrels.
The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.8 million barrels a day, up by 13,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Crude oil imports fell by 435,000 barrels a day to 6.2 million barrels a day, and exports were down by 274,000 barrels a day at 3.8 million barrels a day.
Refineries ran at 97.4% of capacity, up from 97.2% the week before, with crude input to refineries virtually unchanged at 17.4 million barrels a day. Refinery runs were forecast to have slipped by one tenth of a percentage point in the Journal survey.
Gasoline inventories declined by 2.5 million barrels to 206.8 million barrels, and were 6% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand was up by 355,000 barrels a day at 9 million barrels a day. Gasoline stocks were expected to have fallen by 1.3 million barrels.
Distillate fuel stocks fell by 2.2 million barrels to 103.4 million barrels compared with expectations of a 1.1 million barrel drop, and were about 14% below the five-year average for the time of year.
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Aug. 21:
Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use
EIA data: 0.1 -2.5 -2.2 0.2
Forecast: 0.5 -1.3 -1.1 -0.1
Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.
Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 26, 2026 11:49 ET (15:49 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
