U.S. Crude Inventories Fall 3.1 Million Barrels in Latest EIA Report

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories fell 3.1 million barrels to 412.5 million barrels in the week ended October 16, 2026, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday. It was the third consecutive weekly decline, leaving crude stocks about 3% below their five-year average for this time of year.

The latest decrease followed an 8.6-million-barrel draw the previous week and a 3.2-million-barrel decline in the week before that. In all, commercial holdings have dropped nearly 14.8 million barrels since late September. The pace of the draw moderated this week, but the three-week trend has reduced the amount of crude held in U.S. commercial storage.

The EIA’s October 21 weekly petroleum report also showed a sharp decline in gasoline inventories alongside an increase in distillate stocks. The figures describe different parts of the petroleum supply chain, and the movements in refined fuels did not all point in the same direction. Commercial crude inventory totals exclude the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is reported separately.

Gulf Coast Draw Outweighs Increases Elsewhere

A regional breakdown puts the Gulf Coast at the center of the week’s crude decline. Stocks in the EIA’s Gulf Coast district fell about 5.0 million barrels to 229.3 million, a larger draw than the national figure because inventories increased elsewhere. Midwest holdings rose approximately 635,000 barrels, the East Coast added 1.1 million barrels, and the Rocky Mountain region gained about 786,000 barrels. West Coast inventories decreased roughly 578,000 barrels. Those differences are a reminder that a falling national stockpile does not mean every part of the oil network has less crude in storage.

Cushing, Oklahoma, provided a particularly clear contrast. Inventories at the hub increased by 987,000 barrels to 27.6 million barrels even as the U.S. total contracted. Cushing is the delivery point for benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures, so its storage readings are followed separately from the national total. Cushing stocks are included within the Midwest figures rather than added to them as a separate region.

Compared with the corresponding week of 2025, commercial U.S. crude inventories were about 10.3 million barrels lower, a decrease of 2.4%. The Gulf Coast’s holdings were down 6.1% from a year earlier, whereas Midwest inventories were higher. Such variations matter when assessing storage conditions, although the weekly stock figures alone do not establish what drove each regional movement.

Crude Imports Decline as Refineries Maintain Throughput

U.S. refineries processed an average of 16.6 million barrels of crude per day during the reporting week, an increase of 34,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Refinery utilization edged down one-tenth of a percentage point to 93.4%. Together, those readings show that crude processing changed only modestly even as inventories registered another sizable decline.

Gross crude imports fell by 291,000 barrels per day to an average of 5.8 million barrels per day. But the four-week import average was about 6.1 million barrels per day, 2.8% above the corresponding period a year earlier, even though the latest single-week reading was lower. Tanker arrivals and cargo timing can make a weekly import number uneven. Fewer imported barrels can affect the domestic stock balance, but imports alone do not explain the total change: domestic production, exports, refinery intake and other flows also contribute. The data do not establish how much of the three-million-barrel draw should be attributed to any one factor.

Gasoline Stocks Drop While Distillate Inventories Rise

Gasoline inventories decreased by nearly 3.0 million barrels to 205.3 million barrels. That left the stockpile about 5% below its five-year seasonal average and 5.2% below the corresponding week last year. Gasoline production averaged 9.8 million barrels per day, while the four-week average for gasoline product supplied reached 8.7 million barrels per day, up 1.5% from a year earlier.

Distillate fuel told a different story. Inventories increased by roughly 1.7 million barrels to 104.3 million, although they remained about 9% below the five-year average and 9.7% below year-earlier levels. Distillates include diesel and heating oil, making these stocks relevant to freight transport and heating-fuel supply. Production increased to 5.2 million barrels per day. Over the past four weeks, distillate product supplied averaged 3.9 million barrels per day, down 2.4% from a year ago. Gasoline and distillate stock changes therefore moved in opposite directions, and the supplied-volume trends also differed. Neither relationship proves a single cause for the change in storage.

Across all petroleum products, the EIA reported four-week average product supplied of 21.1 million barrels per day, 3.2% higher than a year earlier. Product supplied is the agency’s approximation of consumption based on fuel leaving the primary supply chain, not a direct measurement of sales at the pump. Its four-week averages are useful because the underlying weekly figures can swing with shipments, inventory adjustments and reporting timing.

The broader inventory total also moved lower. Commercial petroleum stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell approximately 8.5 million barrels over the week to 1.216 billion barrels. The reserve itself declined by about 300,000 barrels to 282.7 million, a separate change from the 3.1-million-barrel commercial crude draw. Keeping those categories distinct prevents the headline figure from being confused with total U.S. oil holdings.

The next regular EIA weekly petroleum report is scheduled for Wednesday, October 28, at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time. It will provide the next reading on whether the recent run of crude draws continues and how refinery activity, imports and fuel inventories shift after the October 16 reporting week.