Energy News Beat
U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose last week, but Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) draws and sharp declines in key refined products left overall oil and product stocks tighter, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Petroleum Status Report released today for the week ending July 31, 2026.
Key Inventory Highlights (Week Ending July 31, 2026)
Commercial crude oil (excluding SPR): +2.5 million barrels to 407.0 million barrels (precisely +2.479 million to 406.987 million). This was about 6% below the five-year average for this time of year and ran counter to analyst expectations of a draw.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR): –2.8 million barrels to 304.8 million barrels (–2.841 million to 304.809 million). SPR stocks continue a multi-month decline and sit at multi-decade lows.
Total crude oil (commercial + SPR): slightly lower at 711.8 million barrels (–0.36 million).
Total motor gasoline: –1.6 million barrels to 209.7 million barrels (–1.643 million). Stocks are roughly 7% below the five-year average. Both finished gasoline and blending components declined.
Distillate fuel oil (diesel and heating oil): –3.5 million barrels to 107.2 million barrels (–3.473 million). Inventories are about 12% below the five-year average.
Kerosene-type jet fuel: modest +0.06 million barrels to 46.9 million barrels.
Refinery and supply context: Crude oil inputs to refineries averaged 17.2 million barrels per day (–183,000 b/d week-over-week). Refineries operated at 96.5% of operable capacity (down from 97.2%). Gasoline production averaged about 9.6 million b/d and distillate production about 5.2 million b/d. Crude imports rose to 6.2 million b/d (+515,000 b/d).
Cushing, Oklahoma stocks (the NYMEX delivery point) rose 2.4 million barrels to 21.0 million barrels.
Market Implications
The commercial crude build was unexpected and helped temper some near-term tightness, but the combination of continued SPR releases and large product draws—especially the steep distillate decline—keeps the overall petroleum balance supportive of prices. Gasoline and diesel inventories remain well below seasonal norms heading into the heart of summer driving and approaching the fall heating-oil season. Jet fuel inventories remain relatively comfortable and above year-ago levels.
Total commercial petroleum inventories (excluding SPR) rose about 2.0 million barrels, but the SPR draw more than offset this on an all-stocks basis. Four-week average product supplied stood at 20.4 million b/d (slightly below year-ago levels), with gasoline demand modestly higher and distillate demand stronger year-over-year.
The data underscore a bifurcated picture: commercial crude found some relief via higher imports and slightly lower runs, while refined-product stocks tightened further.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration – Weekly Petroleum Status Report (Data for week ending July 31, 2026; Release Date: August 5, 2026)
https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/weekly/ - EIA Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data
https://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/wpsrsummary.pdf - EIA Table 4 – Stocks of Crude Oil by PAD District and Petroleum Products (CSV)
https://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/table4.csv (and corresponding PDF tables) - EIA Overview / Data tables (combined Table 1 and Table 9)
https://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/overview.pdf - Market reports referencing the EIA data (examples):
- MarketScreener / Dow Jones: “U.S. Crude Oil Stockpiles Post Weekly Increase”
https://in.marketscreener.com/news/u-s-crude-oil-stockpiles-post-weekly-increase-ce7f50dcd98ffe20 - Trading Economics EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/crude-oil-stocks-change
- MarketScreener / Dow Jones: “U.S. Crude Oil Stockpiles Post Weekly Increase”
- Historical context series (YCharts / EIA-sourced):
- US Crude Oil Stocks Excluding SPR
https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_ending_stocks_excluding_spr_of_crude_oil - US Crude Oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_ending_stocks_of_crude_oil_in_the_strategic_petroleum_reserve
- US Crude Oil Stocks Excluding SPR
All inventory figures are from the official EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report unless otherwise noted. Charts generated from EIA-reported weekly data for illustration. Next EIA report: August 12, 2026 (week ending August 7).
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