During the week of April 15th 2011 Crude Oil imports declined and set off a 2.3 million barrel decline in Commercial inventories. Commercial oil inventories came in as 357.0 millions barrels during the week on April 15th.. 8.1 million barrels are currently being imported per day day which is a 2 month low and could aid in fears of Libyan related supply issues.
Gasoline and Distillates declined despite a slight increase output from refineries which operated at 82.5% capacity in the week.
As is evident from the chart, crude oil stocks can fluctuate dramatically over the year.
When oil prices nearly reached $50 per barrel in August 2004, financial market players
began to monitor crude oil inventories. It is not surprising to see sharp price hikes in crude
oil when inventories are falling. Conversely, one would expect price declines when inventories are rising.