Crude oil inventories in the United States fell this week by 1.519 million barrels for the week ending March 15, according to The American Petroleum Institute API, after analysts had predicted a 77,000 barrel build. The API reported a large 5.521-million-barrel rise in crude inventories in the week prior. On Tuesday, the Department of Energy DoE reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve SPR rose by 0.7 million barrels as of March 8. Inventories are now at 362.
30 per barrel compared to this time last week. The U.S. benchmark WTI was trading up on the day by 1.02% at $83.56, up nearly $6 per barrel compared to last Tuesday. Gasoline inventories also fell this week. Gasoline inventories fell 1.574 million barrels, after falling by 3.750 million barrels in the week prior. As of last week, gasoline inventories were about 3% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.