U.S. Crude Inventories Build 4.4 Million Barrels in August Print
Crude oil stocks rose sharply while natural gas storage saw a modest injection amid rising retail power costs.
U.S. ending stocks of crude oil, excluding the SPR, rose by 4,405.0 thousand barrels for the week ending August 14, 2026. This build brought total inventories to 428,815.0 thousand barrels, marking a surprise of +4,449.0 thousand barrels against the trailing 52-week average change.
Natural gas working underground storage in the Lower 48 States reached 3,169.0 bcf following a weekly injection of 16.0 bcf. This movement placed the weekly change at the 37th percentile of the trailing 52 weekly changes, exceeding the five-year average weekly change of +1.3 bcf.
Power sector data from May 2026 shows that natural gas accounted for 39.5% of the U.S. generation mix, followed by nuclear at 18.7% and coal at 13.0%. During that same month, the average retail electricity price across 10 representative states rose 9.0% year over year to 15.75 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Wholesale electricity weighted-average prices across seven hubs were 63.35 dollars per megawatthour as of August 4, 2026. Hub prices varied widely, ranging from 43.10 to 101.34 dollars per megawatthour.