Energy Market Assessment: Freedom of When/What/How to work has us heading to more prosperity

Oil & Gas 360

Mon, May 18, 2026 at 3:30 PM EDT 3 min read

(Oil & Gas 360) – Freedom Of When/What/How To Work Has Us Heading To More Prosperity, With Profitable, Yet Affordable, Oil & Nat. Gas Prices Driving & Providing.  

Decision makers able to Do have today’s current month, closing crude oil futures price down at $101.02, down $11.93 from its April 7, $112.95 high.  The Strait of Hormuz closing, with Operation Epic Fury beginning February 28, jumped the current month West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closing futures contract price from $67.02 per barrel February 27 to $90.90 a week later on March 6.  We credit U.S. Fracking Revolution success for the effort to be prepared having U.S. Commercial crude oil inventory increase from 419.8 million barrels (mmb) February 13 to 465.7 April 17 (Figure 1, red line).  From 12.7 mmb less than last year (blue line) to 22.6 more April 17.  We credit this morning’s report, that despite last week’s 4.3 mmb decline, 452.9 is still 11.0 more than last year, for helping today’s $101.02 per barrel closing futures price be down $11.93 below its high.

Commercial crude oil inventory still 11.0 mmb more than last year is helped by 31.3 mmb withdrawn from the SPR.  The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) created to help us flow through times of trouble was a major help four years ago (Figure 2, bold dash).  It down to 384.1 mmb last week highlights 31.3 mmb withdrawn since March 20^th, a major reason Commercial inventory (Figure 1) is still 11.0 more than last year.

8.6 mmb supplied from SPR inventory last week offsets crude oil imports arriving from Iraq and Saudi Arabia dropping from 7.5 mmb the week of February 13^th to 1.8 last week.  The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) increasing its production had U.S. imports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia increasing from a four-weeks average of 0.457 million barrels per day  (mmbd) at the beginning of December to 0.797 mid-February (Figure 3, bold line, left scale).  3.2 million barrels per week (mmb) to 5.6.  With the Strait of Hormuz closed only 1.8 mmb arrived last week (line, right scale).

U.S. Commercial crude oil inventory still more than last year is also helped by lower-48-state crude oil production continuing to set new record highs.  2.4 mmb more produced last week than last year.  The Fracking Revolution made to work for oil in the U.S. has tripled lower-48-state crude oil production (Figure 4).  Production averaging 13.290 mmbd last week (red line) is 0.340 more than last year (blue line) and 8.845 more than 4.311 in 2006 (green line).