U.S. Crude and Natural Gas Inventories Climb in July Print
Weekly EIA data shows a surprise build in crude oil stocks and a 33 bcf injection of natural gas.
U.S. crude oil inventories, excluding the SPR, rose by 2.479 million barrels for the week ending July 31, 2026. This build represents a surprise of 2.9056 million barrels relative to the trailing 52-week average change.
Natural gas working underground storage in the Lower 48 states also increased, with an injection of 33.0 bcf bringing total storage to 3,117.0 bcf. The weekly change sat at the 48th percentile of the trailing 52 weekly changes.
These storage trends follow a power sector where natural gas provided 39.5% of the generation mix as of May 2026. Retail electricity prices across 10 representative states averaged 15.75 cents per kilowatt-hour during that same month, a 9.0% increase from the previous year.
Wholesale electricity weighted-average prices across seven hubs reached 71.21 dollars per megawatthour as of July 21, 2026. Hub prices varied widely, ranging from 49.84 to 116.00 dollars per megawatthour.