U.S. crude oil storage continues to fall according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration which indicated oil held at the Cushing hub was nearly the same over the past two weeks.
In a Wednesday release, the US EIA stated that Cushing’s crude oil storage as of August 20 amounted to 33.7 million barrels, up slightly from the 33.6 million barrels reported as of August 13.
Investors and market watchers say any change in the number of barrels held in storage at Cushing is important because it serves as the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude oil benchmark.
A year ago, Cushing held 52.4 million barrels of crude, resulting in a 35.8% decline over the past 12 months. Two years, Cushing’s storage amounted to 40.4 million barrels.
In July, the Cushing storage hub was at its lowest level since early 2020 and had declined to 36.7 million barrels. This week’s figures show the amount held in Cushing is on a slow decline.
Nationally, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 3 million barrels from the previous week. The total is 432.6 million barrels and shows the U.S. inventory is about 6% below the five-year average for for this time of year.
Source: EIA