May 13, 2026

US Crude Oil, Gasoline Inventories Continue to Crash as Iran War Takes Its Toll

Crude oil inventories in the United States decreased by 4.3 million barrels during the week ending May 8, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The decrease brings commercial stockpiles to 452.9 million barrels, according to government data, which is 0.3% below the five-year average for this time of year.

According to weekly EIA data, crude oil inventories in the United States have decreased by a total 3.3 million barrels over the last 7 weeks.

The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories saw a draw of 2.188 million barrels in the period.

Crude prices were mostly unchanged on Wednesday as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz drags on. At 9:03 a.m. in New York, Brent was trading at $107.80 per barrel—up $0.03 (+0.03%) on the day, and up roughly $5 per barrel from this time last week. WTI was also trading up on the day, by $0.27 per barrel (+0.26%) in early morning trade at $102.50, up nearly $7 per barrel week over week.

For total motor gasoline, the EIA reported that inventories had decreased by 4.1 million barrels after sinking by 2.5 million barrels in the week prior. The most recent figures showed that average daily gasoline production increased to 9.8 million barrels. For middle distillates, inventories increased by 200,000 barrels with production decreasing to an average of 4.8 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 9% below the five-year average.

Total products supplied—a proxy for U.S. oil demand—slipped to an average of 20.1 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, up 1.1% compared to the same period last year. Gasoline demand averaged 8.9 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, while the distillate four-week average supplied averaged 3.7 million barrels—up 1.3% percent year over year.