By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude oil inventories rose for a second straight week as production increased and exports fell from the week before, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 3.9 million barrels to 424.6 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 5 and were about 3% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Crude stocks were expected to have fallen by one million barrels, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.

Oil stored in the SPR rose by 514,000 barrels to 405.2 million barrels. Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were down by 365,000 barrels at 23.9 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.5 million barrels a day, up by 72,000 barrels a day from the week before. Imports were down by 471,000 barrels a day at 6.3 million barrels a day, while exports fell by 1.1 million barrels a day to 2.7 million barrels a day.

Refinery capacity use increased by 0.6 of a percentage point to 94.9%, versus expectations in the Journal survey of a 0.9 percentage point decline. Crude oil input to refineries fell, however, by 51,000 barrels a day to 16.8 million barrels a day, according to the EIA.

Gasoline inventories rose for the first time in eight weeks and were up by 1.5 million barrels at 220 million barrels, in line with the five-year average. Gasoline demand was down by 609,000 barrels a day at 8.5 million barrel a day. Gasoline stocks were seen down by 500,000 barrels in the Journal survey.

Distillate fuel stocks jumped by 4.7 million barrels to 120.6 million barrels against expectations of a 400,000 barrel decline, and were about 9% below the five-year average.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Sept. 5: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:           3.9           1.5            4.7                  0.6 
Forecast:          -1.0          -0.5           -0.4                 -0.9 
 

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

September 10, 2025 10:56 ET (14:56 GMT)

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