Despite a shutdown of the Keystone pipeline because of an oil leak in northern Kansas, the diminished flow of oil into the Cushing hub was not reflected in the latest storage report from the government.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday Cushing contained 24.4 million barrels of oil as of Dec. 9. It represented an increase from the 23.9 million barrels reported on Dec. 2 of this year.
The Keystone pipeline remained shut down this week while repairs were made near Washington, Kansas where an estimated 14,000 barrels of oil had leaked. The temporary shut down affected the amount of Canadian oil that is moved through the Keystone and to the Gulf Coast refineries. Much of the oil is first transported to the Cushing hub.
The newest total also was nearly the same as the 24.3 million barrels reported on Nov. 25 reported the EIA. However, Cushing’s storage total is still below the 28.2 million barrels reported as of late October.
A year earlier, as of Dec. 10, 2021, Cushing had a reported 32.2 million barrels of crude oil in storage.