Oil Prices Slip After API Reports Unexpected Inventory Build

Julianne Geiger

Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group.

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By Julianne Geiger – Sep 03, 2025, 3:43 PM CDT

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 622,000 barrels in the week ending August 22. Analysts had expected a 3.4-million-barrel draw.

So far this year, crude oil inventories are up 7.4 million barrels, according to Oilprice calculations of API data.

Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 500,000 barrels to 404.7 million barrels in the week ending August 29.

At 2:14 pm ET, Brent crude was trading down $1.59 (-2.30%) on the day, landing at $67.55—up roughly $0.20 per barrel from last week’s prices.

WTI was also trading down on the day, by $1.69 (-2.58%) at $63.90, roughly $0.50 above last week’s price.

Gasoline inventories fell by 4.577 million barrels in the week ending August 29, after falling by 2.06 million barrels in the week prior. As of last week, gasoline inventories were on par with the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data .

Although gasoline stocks fell, distillate inventories rose significantly this week, by 3.687 million barrels, after falling by 1.488 million barrels in the week prior. Distillate inventories were already a massive 15% below the five-year average as of the week ending August 22, the latest EIA data shows.

Cushing inventories—the benchmark crude stored and traded at the key delivery point for U.S. futures contracts in Cushing, Oklahoma—rose by 2.063 million barrels in the week, after falling by 497,000 barrels in the week prior.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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