U.S. oil inventories continued to drop, according to government data released Wednesday, the latest in a series of drawdowns that some market analysts are warning could prop up oil prices.
Commercial crude inventories dropped by 8.3 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday, while the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve dropped 8.9 million barrels. The stockpile is at its lowest level since it was first filled more than 40 years ago.
Crude oil inventories, which were already considered low before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February, have fallen even further as the U.S. increased its exports to help offset the supply trapped behind the Strait of Hormuz. Only a relatively few number of tankers have attempted to travel through the waterway even amid the fragile peace agreement Iran and the Trump administration announced Sunday.
“More and more pressure for a deal to get done and if the strait doesn’t reopen, we’ll be facing an eventual reckoning,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at the GasBuddy pricing service, said in an email exchange after the U.S. Energy Information Administration released data on fuel stockpiles.
