U.S. Crude-Oil Stockpiles Post Unexpected Weekly Build

By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude-oil inventories rose unexpectedly last week, ending a string of five straight weekly withdrawals amid higher imports and a decline in exports, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude-oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 4.7 million barrels to 414.4 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 6 and were about 4% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Crude stocks were expected to have fallen by 700,000 barrels, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.

Oil stored in the SPR fell by 2.6 million barrels to 279.5 million barrels. Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, rose by 106,000 barrels to 27.4 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 14 million barrels a day, up by 10,000 barrels a day from the week before. Crude-oil imports increased by 325,000 barrels a day to 6.7 million barrels a day, and exports were down by 220,000 barrels a day at 3.5 million barrels a day.

Refineries ran at 95.2% of capacity, up from 94.5% the week before, with crude input to refineries increasing by 322,000 barrels a day to 17 million barrels a day. Refinery runs were forecast to have risen by half of a percentage point in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels to 210.8 million barrels and were 1% above the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand slipped by 41,000 barrels a day and was a little under 8.8 million barrels a day. Gasoline stocks were expected to be unchanged from the previous week.

Distillate fuel stocks rose by 4.1 million barrels to 103.3 million barrels against expectations of a 1.2 million-barrel withdrawal, and were 8% below the five-year average for the time of year. Distillate demand fell by 1 million barrels a day from the previous week to 3.4 million barrels a day.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Nov. 6: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates       Refinery Use 
EIA data:           4.7           1.8            4.1                0.7 
Forecast:          -0.7          unch           -1.2                0.5 
 

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 12, 2026 12:47 ET (17:47 GMT)