US Oil Exports Soar To New Record High As Inventories Tumble, SPR Drained Most Since October 2022

One week ago we lamented that the record oil inventory drawdown, which has seen over 250 million barrels drained from storage since the start of the war, has not led to higher oil prices (for those who missed it, Goldman forecast that global visible oil inventories are likely to reach record-low levels even in an optimistic scenario where Hormuz flows start to recover by the end of April).

Moments ago the already precarious inventory picture turned even more ominous after the DOE reported that Crude stocks tumbled by a whopping 6.234 million barrels, far more than the 190K draw expected. The huge decline on US crude stockpiles was the largest draw since early February. It took nationwide storage numbers to around 459.5 million barrels. 

But it wasn’t just crude: all other products drew as well:

• Crude -6.234MM, Exp. -190K, and much bigger than the 1.8-million-barrel decrease seen by the API on Tuesday
• Gasoline -6.075MM
• Distillates -4.494MM
• Cushing -796K

Gasoline declines in the middle of their predicted range at 6.1 million barrels. That’s the biggest draw since earlier in April, but the bigger story is total supplies falling to their lowest since December. Seasonally, stocks are at their lowest since 2014. Gasoline futures got a nice bump on this, extending their gains to new intraday highs, though the big story, as ever, is the Strait of Hormuz.

Visually

Since the war started, Crude stocks had risen significantly, while gasoline inventories have seen non-stop draws. However, oil has now also inflected lower as it too starts to draw, painting an ominous picture for US gasoline prices which are already at multi-year highs.

The big draw in distillate stocks – the largest since March 2025 – came from the Gulf Coast. That’s now below seasonal levels from 2022 in that region, when global diesel supplies were strained by the war in Ukraine.  Distillate exports out of the US ticked down nominally last week, but they remain pretty elevated, near 1.6 million barrels a day for the fourth straight week as the US once again becomes a key supplier of diesel to the rest of the world.

Stocks of jet fuel, which has been more stressed than nearly every other refined product, ticked up marginally as the US produced the most of the fuel since July 4, 2024, which is a key travel period. In the Gulf Coast, more of the fuel was produced than any time on record.

Despite the big drop in inventories, which also saw the second largest drain in Cushing stocks since the start of the war (and third largest in 2026) dragging total Cushing stocks back under 30mm…

… total US production rose by just 1 barrell/day in the past week to 13.586 million b/d.

Adding insult to injury, the drop in commercial stocks was compounded by a huge 7.121 mm barrel drawdown from the SPR, the biggest since October 2022.

And while US consumers are now facing the highest gas prices in years, at least US producers are rolling in the profits: US exports just hit a new record high as the Iran war sends overseas buyers hunting for replacements to Middle Eastern oil.

The surge in the volatile weekly crude exports figure helped send overall shipments of US oil and fuel abroad to a fresh record high above 14 million barrels a day.

As US crude exports skyrocketed, imports declined, falling to around 5.75 million barrels per day. Most notably, imports into the East Coast hit an all-time low. The region is thirsty for barrels and even imported crude from the US Gulf Coast last week thanks to a shipping waiver signed by President Donald Trump. 

Crude imports from five key Latin American producers slipped in the week ended April 24, dropping by one-fifth to average 893,000 barrels a day. Increased inflows from Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador were more than offset by drops in imports from Brazil and Venezuela. No crude was imported from Brazil for the first time since November.

While it didn’t actually need the boost, having soared earlier in the day on continued indefinite Hormuz closure, WTI Crude rose above $105 the highest in two weeks, and up $6 on the day…

… while Brent is about to surpass its post-war highs.

And speaking of gasoline, the four-week average of gasoline demand rose to 8.9 million barrels a day, which is in-line with regular summer driving trends. Concerns of higher gasoline prices — and $4 gas — does not yet seem to be reflected in the demand numbers, with the implied demand figure at its highest seasonal level since 2019.

Meanwhile, US refinery runs bounced back and are back above 16 million barrels a day. Oil processing rose despite a small decrease on the Gulf Coast, where Valero continues to attempt a full restart of its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery following a fire in March.