Crude oil stocks remain at low levels at the Cushing hub where nearly 4 months ago, analysts said the amount stored at the northern Oklahoma site were “quickly approaching critically low levels.”
That’s how Bloomberg described the situation in late October 2021 when levels dropped to 31 millions barrels of crude oil.
This week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Cushing levels were down to 30,528,000 barrels of oil as of Jan. 28, 2022. It was a drop from 31,701,000 million barrels reported by the EIA as of Jan. 21, 2022.
The last time Cushing had such a low storage amount was when crude prices hit $100 or more. West Texas Intermediate crude is up to $88 a barrel in the U.S. and Cushing is where the WTI price is determined.
Worldwide demand and anxiety over Russia’s possible looming invasion of Ukraine have led to the increased prices. During the 2020 coronavirus, the amount of crude at Cushing was much higher.h.