EIA Reports 3-Million-Barrel Crude Build for Week Ending September 18
EIA's September 18 crude build of 3 million barrels pushes US commercial stocks to 426.4 million barrels, extending a summer rebound past seasonal par.
US commercial crude oil inventories rose 3 million barrels to 426.4 million barrels for the week ending September 18 (2026-09-18), according to EIA data published Thursday (2026-09-24). ICE Brent crude front-month was at $105.32 a barrel as of 09:46 UTC on September 24 (2026-09-24), down 0.35%. NYMEX WTI front-month stood at $93.73, off 0.58%.3
The build continues a sharp reversal from early summer lows. Commercial stocks were at 411.7 million barrels on July 17 (2026-07-17), 6% below the five-year average, according to EIA data. By the week ending September 4 (2026-09-04), that deficit had closed: stocks of 424.1 million barrels were running on par with the five-year seasonal average, OilPrice.com reported, citing EIA data. The September 18 (2026-09-18) build extends that recovery by another 3 million barrels.1,2,3
The product complex is pulling in a different direction. NYMEX RBOB gasoline front-month was up 0.28% at $3.61 a gallon as of 09:46 UTC on September 24 (2026-09-24), gaining even as crude fell. Distillates reinforce that divergence: EIA data for the week ending September 4 (2026-09-04) showed distillate inventories still 13% below the five-year average, even as crude stocks had drawn close to seasonal norms.3
But demand signals offer little support. The four-week average for total petroleum product supplied was 20.1 million barrels per day for the period ending September 4 (2026-09-04), down 3.7% year-on-year, EIA data showed. The four-week average for gasoline product supplied was down 1.4% from a year earlier. Those figures point to soft underlying consumption and limit any straightforward bullish read from tight product inventories.3
On the supply side, US refineries were running at near-peak rates even before the latest report. For the week ending September 4 (2026-09-04), throughput reached 17.6 million barrels per day, up 91,000 barrels per day on the week, at 97.8% capacity utilization, according to EIA. High throughput should draw crude lower. But crude imports averaged 6.8 million barrels per day for that week, with a four-week average of 6.6 million barrels per day, 2.3% above year-ago levels, more than offsetting the refinery pull.3
Waleed Said, technical analyst at GivTrade, told Rigzone after the September 4 (2026-09-04) EIA report that the data was "close to a non-event for the oil price," adding that in a normal week "that mix leans bearish for crude." That assessment followed a 400,000-barrel draw. The September 18 (2026-09-18) result is a 3-million-barrel build in the other direction.3
The SPR stood at 285.4 million barrels on September 4 (2026-09-04), down from 405.2 million barrels on September 5, 2025, a year-on-year decline of nearly 120 million barrels, EIA showed. Total petroleum stocks including gasoline, distillates, propane and other products were 1.534 billion barrels on September 4 (2026-09-04), down 152.5 million barrels year-on-year even as they rose 5.1 million barrels week-on-week.3
Propane and propylene inventories were 27% above the five-year average for the week ending September 4 (2026-09-04) according to EIA, a pocket of the storage complex where surplus conditions are already entrenched. With crude stocks building past seasonal par, attention now turns to whether autumn refinery maintenance curtails enough throughput to pull commercial inventories back from their current level before year-end.3