U.S. Crude Inventories Hit 52-Week High as Gas Storage Rises
Crude oil stocks saw a record weekly build while natural gas storage grew by 36 bcf.
U.S. ending stocks of crude oil, excluding the SPR, surged by 17,423 thousand barrels for the week ending August 7, 2026. This build brought total inventories to 424,410 thousand barrels. The move represents a surprise of 17,743.7 thousand barrels against the trailing 52-week average change and ranks at the 100% percentile of weekly changes over the past year.
Natural gas working underground storage in the Lower 48 states also increased, recording an injection of 36.0 bcf. Total storage reached 3,153.0 bcf for the period. This weekly change outperformed the five-year average of +1.3 bcf and created a surprise of +36.2 bcf relative to the trailing 52-week average.
These storage trends coincide with a power sector heavily reliant on gas, which accounted for 39.5% of the U.S. generation mix in May 2026. Wholesale electricity weighted-average prices across seven hubs stood at 63.35 dollars per megawatthour as of August 4, 2026.
Retail costs remain elevated, with the average representative-state price in May 2026 reaching 15.75 cents per kilowatt-hour. This figure marks a 9.0% increase from the previous year.