The Energy Information Administration report for the week ended July 24 highlights a tightening market. While crude production held steady at 13.8 million barrels a day, a combination of declining imports and rising exports pulled domestic stocks down to 404.5 million barrels. Simultaneously, refineries pushed utilization to 97.2% of capacity, processing 17.3 million barrels daily—a significant uptick that defied forecasts of a slight cooling in activity.

Emergency releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve continued, further draining that stockpile by 3.8 million barrels to 307.7 million. At the Nymex delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, inventories dipped by 771,000 barrels. Meanwhile, fuel markets showed mixed results: gasoline stocks remained essentially flat at 211.3 million barrels despite higher demand, while distillate inventories unexpectedly grew by 1.1 million barrels, bucking expectations of a decline.