{"id":44009,"date":"2026-03-06T04:50:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T04:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/crude-oil-prices-pressured-by-bearish-eia-inventory-report\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T04:50:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T04:50:51","slug":"crude-oil-prices-pressured-by-bearish-eia-inventory-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/crude-oil-prices-pressured-by-bearish-eia-inventory-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Crude Oil Prices Pressured by Bearish EIA Inventory Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" data-testid=\"article-body\">\n<div class=\"bodyItems-wrapper\">\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->April WTI crude oil (CLJ26) today is down -0.55 (-0.74%), and April RBOB gasoline (RBJ26) is up +0.0172 (+0.70%).<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Crude oil and gasoline prices are mixed today, with gasoline posting a 19.5-month high. \u00a0Energy prices have been volatile today, whipsawed by headlines. \u00a0Crude prices initially tumbled today on a NY Times report that said Iranian operatives made an offer to the US to discuss terms for ending the conflict. \u00a0However, prices shot higher after Iran denied the report. \u00a0Crude prices then fell back on a bearish weekly EIA inventory report.<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Crude has some negative carryover from Tuesday, when President Trump said the US will ensure the free flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz with insurance guarantees and even naval escorts. \u00a0 <!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is bullish for energy prices. \u00a0Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that \u201cwe will set fire to any ship attempting to pass through\u201d the strait, which runs along Iran\u2019s coast and handles a fifth of the world\u2019s oil. \u00a0The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced Iraq, OPEC\u2019s second-largest producer, to shut down oil production at its largest oil fields in Rumalia as storage tanks fill up. \u00a0Also, Kayrros reported today that four of six tanks at Saudi Arabia\u2019s Ras Tanura refinery were full, and the Ju\u2019aymah terminal on the country\u2019s east coast is quickly running out of spare capacity. \u00a0Goldman Sachs estimates the real-time risk premium for crude oil at $18\/bbl, corresponding to its estimate of the impact of a six-week full halt to tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Also, damage from an intercepted Iranian drone caused a major fire on Tuesday at the United Arab Emirates\u2019 major oil-trading hub, Fujairah, one of the largest oil storage centers in the Middle East. \u00a0In addition, Iranian drone attacks forced Saudi Arabia to shut down its Ras Taura refinery, the country\u2019s largest, which refines 550,000 bpd of crude oil.<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->In a bearish factor for crude, OPEC+ on Sunday said it will boost its crude output by 206,000 bpd in April, above estimates of 137,000 bpd. \u00a0OPEC+ is trying to restore all of the 2.2 million bpd production cut it made in early 2024, but still has nearly another 1.0 million bpd left to restore. \u00a0OPEC\u2019s January crude production fell by -230,000 bpd to a 5-month low of 28.83 million bpd.<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>   <button class=\"secondary-btn fin-size-large readmore-button    rounded   yf-r7dg9i\" data-ylk=\"elm:readmore;itc:1;sec:content-canvas;slk:Story%20Continues\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;readmore&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Story Continues&quot;}\" aria-label=\"Story Continues\" title=\"Story Continues\"> <span>Story Continues<\/span> <\/button> <\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-wrapper\" style=\"display: none\" data-testid=\"read-more\">\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Mounting crude supplies in floating storage are a bearish factor for oil prices. \u00a0According to Vortexa data, about 290 million bbl of Russian and Iranian crude are currently in floating storage on tankers, more than 50% higher than a year ago, due to blockades and sanctions on Russian and Iranian crude. \u00a0Vortexa reported Monday that crude oil stored on tankers that have been stationary for at least 7 days rose by +20% w\/w to 105.48 million bbl in the week ended February 27.<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->An increase in crude exports from Venezuela is also boosting global oil supplies and is bearish for prices. \u00a0Reuters reported on February 9 that Venezuelan crude exports rose to 800,000 bpd in January from 498,000 bpd in December.<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->On February 10, the EIA raised its 2026 US crude production estimate to 13.60 million bpd from 13.59 million bpd last month, and raised its US 2026 energy consumption estimate to 96.00 (quadrillion btu) from 95.37 last month. \u00a0The IEA last month cut its 2026 global crude surplus estimate to 3.7 million bpd from last month\u2019s estimate of 3.815 million bpd. <!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->The most recent US-brokered meeting in Geneva to end the war between Russia and Ukraine ended early as Ukrainian President Zelenskiy accused Russia of dragging out the war. \u00a0Russia has said the \u201cterritorial issue\u201d remains unresolved with Ukraine, and there\u2019s \u201cno hope of achieving a long-term settlement\u201d to the war until Russia\u2019s demand for territory in Ukraine is accepted. \u00a0The outlook for the Russia-Ukraine war to continue will keep restrictions on Russian crude in place and is bullish for oil prices.<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Ukrainian drone and missile attacks have targeted at least 28 Russian refineries over the past seven months, limiting Russia\u2019s crude oil export capabilities and reducing global oil supplies. \u00a0Also, since the end of November, Ukraine has ramped up attacks on Russian tankers, with at least six tankers attacked by drones and missiles in the Baltic Sea. \u00a0In addition, new US and EU sanctions on Russian oil companies, infrastructure, and tankers have curbed Russian oil exports.<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Today\u2019s weekly EIA inventory report is bearish for crude oil and products. \u00a0EIA crude inventories rose +3.48 million bbl to a 9-month high, a larger build than expectations of +3.0 million bbl. \u00a0Also, EIS gasoline supplies fell by -1.7 million bbl, a smaller draw than expectations of -1.98 million bbl. \u00a0In addition, EIA distillate stockpiles unexpectedly rose by +429,000 bbl, versus expectations of a -2.36 million bbl draw. \u00a0Finally, crude supplies at Cushing, the delivery point for WTI futures, rose +1.56 million bbl to a 1.5-year high.<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Today\u2019s EIA report showed that (1) US crude oil inventories as of February 27 were -2.7% below the seasonal 5-year average, (2) gasoline inventories were +4.4% above the seasonal 5-year average, and (3) distillate inventories were -1.9% below the 5-year seasonal average. \u00a0US crude oil production in the week ending February 27 was unchanged w\/w at 13.696 million bpd, just below the record high of 13.862 million bpd from the week of November 7.<!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Baker Hughes reported last Friday that the number of active US oil rigs in the week ended February 27 fell by -2 to 409 rigs, just above the 4.25-year low of 406 rigs posted in the week ended December 19. \u00a0Over the past 2.5 years, the number of US oil rigs has fallen sharply from the 5.5-year high of 627 rigs reported in December 2022.<br \/><!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START --><i> On the date of publication, Rich Asplund did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally\u00a0published on Barchart.com <\/i><!-- HTML_TAG_END --><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>April WTI crude oil (CLJ26) today is down -0.55 (-0.74%), and April RBOB gasoline (RBJ26) is up +0.0172 (+0.70%). Crude oil and gasoline prices are mixed today, with gasoline posting a 19.5-month high. \u00a0Energy prices have been volatile today, whipsawed by headlines. \u00a0Crude prices initially tumbled today on a NY Times report that said Iranian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_daextam_enable_autolinks":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[4590,4591,4674,4673,4490,4672,216,223,4592],"class_list":["post-44009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","tag-crude-oil","tag-crude-prices","tag-crude-production","tag-eia-inventory-report","tag-energy-prices","tag-gasoline-prices","tag-oil-prices","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-wti-crude-oil"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/9e9a4609211d2a5ea34e169b72b63b2d.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}