Week ending
Weekly EIA petroleum report
US commercial crude inventories
US crude stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, measured against the five-year seasonal average. Updated weekly from the EIA, with WTI price context.
LOW inventory versus season
tighter physical balanceHIGH inventory versus season
looser physical balance A percentile read on physical balance.-26.9 million barrels
+1.7 million barrels vs normal
0th percentile of five-year sample
Seasonal inventory curve
US crude: current year vs history
Chart loading. A recent data table is available directly below.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (Aug 2026). Published Aug 5, 2026.
How the curve is calculated
View recent weekly values
| Week ending | Inventory | Weekly price context |
|---|---|---|
| May 15, 2026 | 445.0 million barrels | 105.10 |
| May 22, 2026 | 441.7 million barrels | 105.32 |
| May 29, 2026 | 433.7 million barrels | 93.45 |
| Jun 5, 2026 | 426.5 million barrels | 96.87 |
| Jun 12, 2026 | 418.2 million barrels | 92.16 |
| Jun 19, 2026 | 412.1 million barrels | 81.36 |
| Jun 26, 2026 | 408.4 million barrels | 73.59 |
| Jul 3, 2026 | 411.4 million barrels | 70.48 |
| Jul 10, 2026 | 409.7 million barrels | 72.26 |
| Jul 17, 2026 | 411.7 million barrels | 80.77 |
| Jul 24, 2026 | 404.5 million barrels | 88.58 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 407.0 million barrels | 84.51 |
About this series
What the commercial barrel count represents.
This series is a weekly accounting identity made visible. Crude stocks rise when domestic production plus imports exceed refinery runs plus exports, and fall when the reverse holds. Every barrel in the number arrived through one of those channels, which is why the figure responds to refinery maintenance seasons and export economics as much as to anything happening at the wellhead.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is deliberately excluded. SPR volumes move on government policy — releases during supply disruptions, repurchases when prices are favourable — and mixing them into the commercial series would make a political decision look like a shift in market balance. Keeping them separate is what allows the curve to be read as a supply-and-demand signal.
Crude inventories are also less seasonal than natural gas, so the five-year band here is narrower and deviations from it carry a different weight. A five percent surplus in crude is a more notable dislocation than the same percentage in gas, where the annual cycle is far larger. Read the percentile figure alongside the percentage for that reason.
The history view adds three lines worth reading against the commercial curve: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and both crude benchmarks. The SPR shows the policy stock this series deliberately excludes — the 2022 drawdown and the slow refill since are visible in a way the commercial number alone never shows. WTI and Brent together show whether a move is a US dislocation or a global one: when the two spread apart, the constraint is usually domestic logistics rather than world supply.
Track the Strategic Petroleum Reserve separately How the five-year curve is calculated
- Series
- EIA PET.WCESTUS1.W
- Measures
- Ending stocks, excluding the SPR
- Coverage
- United States, commercial
- Unit
- Million barrels
- Released
- Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. ET
- Price overlay
- WTI and Brent weekly spot
- History overlay
- Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Compare across the balance
The other curves worth reading beside this one.
A single series rarely settles a question. Gas and crude respond to different drivers, and a national total can disagree with the hub that prices the contract.
Lower 48 working gas
Weekly EIA storage, injection or draw, and Henry Hub price context.
Open US gas curveCommercial crude
US ending stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
You're viewing this curveCushing, Oklahoma
The WTI delivery-point inventory—a focused view of local crude tightness.
Open Cushing curveEuropean gas storage
Weekly-sampled AGSI gas in storage, TWh, and capacity fullness.
Open EU gas curveSource ledger
Every number has a provider and a date.
United States inventories and prices
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (Aug 2026).
Open EIA sourceEuropean gas storage
Source: Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), AGSI.
Open AGSI sourceQuestions, answered from the method
US crude oil inventory FAQ
Which barrels are counted, which are deliberately excluded, and how the weekly petroleum release works.
Which EIA series does this crude curve use?
EIA API v2 series PET.WCESTUS1.W — US ending stocks of crude oil excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. StorageCurve converts it from thousand barrels to million barrels for readability.
Why exclude the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
SPR barrels are government emergency stocks. They move on policy decisions rather than on commercial supply and demand, so including them would blur the reading of the commercial balance that refiners and traders actually operate against.
When are US crude oil inventories released?
The EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report is normally released Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time, with holiday exceptions. The figures describe stocks at the close of the prior reporting week.
What does a crude build or draw actually indicate?
A build means production plus imports exceeded refinery runs plus exports that week; a draw means the reverse. Neither is bullish or bearish on its own — what matters is the size of the move against the normal seasonal change for that week.
Is this the same as the API weekly crude number?
No. The American Petroleum Institute publishes a separate industry estimate, usually the evening before the EIA release. The two frequently disagree. StorageCurve uses the official EIA series only and does not blend them.
Does this include gasoline, distillate, or refined products?
No — this curve is crude oil only. Product inventories answer a different question about downstream demand and are outside the scope of this v1 dashboard.
How does this differ from the Cushing curve?
This is the national commercial total. Cushing is one delivery hub inside it. National stocks can look comfortable while Cushing is tight, or the reverse, because pipeline routing and Gulf Coast export flows move barrels between regions.
What is the SPR line on the history chart?
It is EIA series PET.WCSSTUS1.W — crude held in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in million barrels. It is drawn for context only. The SPR is excluded from the commercial curve and from every seasonal average, percentile, and pressure calculation on this page.
Why show both WTI and Brent?
WTI prices crude at Cushing, Oklahoma; Brent prices waterborne crude in the North Sea. Watching the spread separates a domestic dislocation from a global one — when the two diverge, the binding constraint is usually US pipeline or export logistics rather than world supply.