U.S. Oil Inventories Rose Sharply And Unexpectedly
- 12.08.2026, 22:24
The reason was an unusual combination of imports and exports.
Over the past week, commercial crude oil inventories in the U.S. rose by 17.4 million barrels. This was reported on Wednesday, August 12, by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) under the U.S. Department of Energy. According to the agency, by the end of last week—Friday, August 7—total fuel inventories in the country reached 424.4 million barrels. Previously, analysts at Trading Economics had forecast a decline of approximately 1.4 million barrels instead of an increase.
It is noted that the current stock level is 2% below the five-year average for this time of year.
As noted by Reuters, this market situation has arisen primarily due to an atypical combination of oil imports and exports. Over the past week, U.S. crude oil exports fell to their lowest level since 2025—3.06 million barrels per day. At the same time, oil shipments from Canada and Venezuela rose sharply.
As a result, U.S. crude oil—which had been actively entering the global market in previous months—remained within the United States last week. The EIA’s statement also indicates that the drop in exports has partially eased the workload on U.S. refineries.
However, this sharp increase has not been accompanied by a rise in refined product inventories. During the same week, gasoline stocks in the country fell by 968,000 barrels to 7 million, while distillate stocks fell by 10,000 barrels to 107.2 million.
As noted by Reuters, this market situation arose primarily due to an atypical combination of oil imports and exports. Over the past week, U.S. crude oil exports fell to their lowest level since 2025—3.06 million barrels per day. At the same time, oil shipments from Canada and Venezuela rose sharply.
As a result, U.S. crude oil—which had been actively entering the global market in previous months—remained within the United States last week. The EIA’s statement also indicates that the drop in exports has partially eased the workload on U.S. refineries.
However, this sharp increase has not been accompanied by a rise in petroleum product inventories. During the same week, gasoline inventories in the country fell by 968,000 barrels to 7 million, while distillate inventories fell by 10,000 barrels to 107.2 million.