Crude-oil inventories in Cushing, Okla., were down 2.5 percent on July 14 from July 9, according to data from DigitalGlobe. Stockpiles held in floating-roof tanks at the hub dropped 898,000 barrels to 35.7 million barrels, satellite images taken by the Longmont-based company show. The Department of Energy said July 13 that Cushing inventories including floating and fixed tanks were 37.6 million barrels.
Cushing is the physical delivery point for New York Mercantile Exchange oil futures contracts and the largest crude-trading and storage hub in the U.S. Inventories have risen 0.4 percent this year, buoyed by rising domestic production. The hub has working storage capacity of 48 million barrels, the department said May 31.
The DigitalGlobe estimate is based on images of all 223 operational floating-top tanks at Cushing, the satellite company said. There are also 116 fixed tanks at the hub. Bloomberg News
