U.S. Crude Stocks Up 5th Week in Row To Nearly 2-Yr High

SECAUCUS, NJ (DTN) – U.S. commercial crude oil stocks rose a fifth consecutive week last week to the highest in nearly two years, while gasoline inventories declined and distillate and jet fuel inventories rose, Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed Wednesday (3/25).

Crude stocks climbed by 6.9 million bbl to 456.2 million bbl during the week March 20, the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report showed. That was the highest crude stock level for a week since June 7, 2024, when inventories stood at 459.7 million bbl.

Compared with the same week of last year, crude stocks were 22.6 million bbl higher.

Distillate fuel oil inventories rose by 3.0 million bbl to 119.9 million bbl on a weekly basis and were 5.6 million bbl higher than the same week last year.

Jet fuel stocks increased by 700,000 bbl to 44.3 million bbl and were at the same level as the previous year.

Total motor gasoline inventories extended their decline, falling by 2.6 million bbl to 241.4 million bbl last week. Compared with the same week last year, gasoline stocks were 2.3 million bbl higher.

Blending components for gasoline fell by 2.4 million bbl to 228.7 million bbl and were higher than the 224.4 million reported year-over-year. Conventional gasoline stocks reported a weekly fall of 200,000 bbl to 12.7 million bbl.

Refinery utilization rose to 92.9% last week from 91.4% of operable capacity reported the prior week, the EIA data showed.

Crude oil input into refineries averaged 16.598 million bpd during the week ended March 20, up from 16.232 million bpd reported a week ago and above the 15.750 million seen in the same week last year.

Crude oil exports averaged 3.322 million bpd in the profiled week, down 1.576 million bpd from the previous week.

During the week profiled, crude imports averaged 6.464 million bpd, a 730,000 bpd decrease from last week. Year-on-year, imports rose 269,000 bpd from the 6.195 million bpd recorded in the same week of 2025.

Total products supplied over the last four weeks averaged 20.678 million bpd, up 2.4% from the same period a year earlier. Gasoline demand averaged 8.796 million bpd, down 0.9% from the same period last year, while distillate demand averaged 3.932 million bpd, higher by 1.2% from the same period last year.