Oil reserves in the US unexpectedly declined

According to the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy, commercial oil reserves in the US (excluding the strategic reserve) for the week ended March 24 decreased by 7.5 million barrels to 473.7 million barrels. Analysts, on the contrary, expected an increase in inventories by 0.1 million barrels.

At the same time, the strategic reserve of oil in the United States has not changed: the indicator remains at the level of 371.6 million barrels since January. Before that, it had been declining weekly since September 2021. As a result, now this reserve is still at a minimum since December 1983.

Oil reserves at the country's largest terminal in Cushing decreased to 35.2 million barrels from 36.8 million barrels during the reporting period.

At the same time, gasoline reserves decreased by 2.9 million barrels to 226.7 million. Analysts had expected a decline of 1.6 million barrels. Distillate stocks increased by 0.3 million barrels to 116.7 million barrels. Experts predicted a decrease of 1.5 million.

Oil production decreased by 100 thousand barrels per day, to 12.2 million barrels per day. For the whole of last year, production is estimated at an average of 11.88 million barrels per day.