The summer driving season is here and with it an increased demand for gasoline which in turn caused a drop in the amount of domestic crude oil in storage at the Cushing hub in northern Oklahoma.
Reports indicate inventories at Cushing fell by 1.5 million barrels in the week leading up to June 25 and stood at 40.3 million barrels in the hub which is the designated delivery point for NYMEX crude oil futures contracts.
The total left in storage is 11.7% less compared to the amount stored at Cushing last year at this time. It is also 23.3% less than the crude stored there the same week of 2019.
A report by OilPrice. com indicated refineries are now at 92.9% capacity, a figure below the 94.2% capacity at this time two years ago but far more than the 75.5% capacity utilization one year ago.
