Prices pressured from interest rate speculation
September 17, 2026
The DOE inventory report had crude oil inventories down 640,000 barrels, gasoline supplies up 790,000 barrels and distillates up 1.59 million barrels.
Propane inventories were down 1.378 million barrels to a total of 109.092 million. Midwest supplies were down 303,000 to a total of 26.259 million. Gulf Coast stocks were down 570,000 barrels to a total of 69.626 million.
Total US crude stock 423.429 million barrels, last year 415.361, 3-year average 417.110
Total gasoline supplies 207.732 and last year 217.650 and the 3-year average 219.582.
Total distillates 107.859, last year 124.684 and the year average is 123.166.
Inventory stats were in line with expectations for gasoline with small builds, but diesel built more than expected as demand came in on the lower side. I know that diesel prices have been very volatile with 20 plus cent moves up and down, and I know prices are very high but if you have not put some inventory in your tank for harvest you might do an amount you are comfortable with just to make sure you have it as distillate supply levels have been a concern for some time now.
US Energy Secretary Chirs Wright said 18 million barrels of oil flowed through the Gulf on Tuesday. If this is close to true, then it is good news to see barrels still moving despite all we hear about the shutdown of ship traffic.
The market is taking back some of the risk premium built in on the first news of the East-West pipeline being damaged by an attack. The damage was not as bad as first reported and Saudi Arabia hopes to have roughly half of the capacity back in a few days.
Prices are also feeling selling pressure from the Fed raising interest rates. This will likely impact the US economy and hurt energy demand.