Declining U.S. Petroleum Inventories Push Oil Prices Higher

Despite a crude oil inventory build in the latest EIA report, U.S. commercial petroleum stocks have declined in most of the weeks in the past year and a half, falling below seasonal averages for the past five years and even below the five-year average before the pandemic.   The continuously declining U.S. petroleum stocks over the past year suggest that supply has not caught up with rebounding demand as U.S. exploration and production companies have not responded with a spike in new drilling activity to the rising crude oil prices.  …