API reported a slight increase in crude oil production

API reported that crude oil production for the week was 736,000 barrels, compared with analysts' expectations of 1.
2 million barrels
, as reported by Oil Price Network on June 14.

In the week ending June 10, the U.
S.
Department of Energy released 7.
7 million barrels of oil
from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

API data shows that U.
S.
crude oil inventories have shrunk by about 74 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 16 million barrels
since the beginning of 2020.

The week before, API reported an increase of 1.
845 million barrels in crude oil inventories, while analysts had previously forecast a 1.
8 million barrel
decline in inventories.

Oil prices were particularly volatile on Tuesday, with OPEC reporting that May production was not only below quota, but also lower than in
April.
Typically, this will lead to a sharp spike in oil prices as the market takes into account that OPEC's spare capacity may have just been exhausted
.
But high inflation and insufficient spare refining capacity limited gains
.

WTI fell 0.
22 percent at 2:20 p.
m.
on Tuesday to close at $120.
70 a barrel, up nearly $0.
60 from the week
.
Brent crude rose 0.
01 percent to $122.
30 a barrel on the day and rose nearly $1.
20 for the week
.

U.
S.
crude oil production stalled at 11.
9 million b/d for the fourth straight week in the week ended June 3, down 1.
2 million b/d
from pre-pandemic levels.

This week, API reported a 2.
159 million barrel reduction in gasoline inventories for the week ended June 10, compared to 1.
821 million barrels
the week before.

Distillate inventories increased by 2.
34 billion barrels last week, compared to 3.
376 million barrels
last week.

Cushing lost 1.
067 million barrels
this week.
Cushing inventories slipped to 23.
441 million barrels in the week before June 3, down more than
half from 59.
2 million barrels at the start of 2021 and 37.
3 million barrels at the end of 2021, according to the EIA.

At 4:35 p.
m.
ET, WTI fell to $118.
5 (-2.
03%) and Brent crude fell to $120.
7 (-1.
30%)
.