U.S. Crude Oil, Gasoline Inventories Continue to Drop

Crude oil inventories in the United States fell this week by 1.519 million barrels for the week ending March 15, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API), after analysts had predicted a 77,000 barrel build. The API reported a large 5.521-million-barrel rise in crude inventories in the week prior. On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.7 million barrels as of March 8. Inventories are now at 362.3 million barrels. Oil prices were up ahead of…