US Distillate Stocks Rise 2.1 Million Barrels and Stay 13 Percent Below Average
US distillate fuel stocks rose 2.1 million barrels in the week to 4 September and still stand 13 percent below the five year average for this time of year, the Energy Information Administration said in a report delayed one day from its usual Wednesday by the federal holiday.
Gasoline stocks rose 1.3 million barrels and remain 5 percent below their five year average. Commercial crude stocks fell 0.4 million barrels to 424.1 million and are the one category the agency describes as matching its five year average.
Stocks, and how far each sits from normal
| Week to 4 September 2026 | Level, million barrels | Weekly change |
|---|---|---|
| Crude oil excluding reserve | 424.1 | -0.4 |
| Motor gasoline | 206.9 | 1.3 |
| Distillate fuel oil | 106.3 | 2.1 |
| Strategic Petroleum Reserve | 285.4 | -1.2 |
Weekly changes are against the week to 28 August. The five year average comparisons are a separate measure: crude matching it, gasoline 5 percent below, distillate 13 percent below.
A 2.1 million barrel build is 2.0 percent of the distillate stock on our calculation, and it did not close the gap. Distillate is also 14.4 million barrels below where it stood a year ago, a fall of 11.9 percent, and 15.0 percent below its level two years ago.
The reserve is the larger year on year story. At 285.4 million barrels it is 119.9 million below the same week of 2025, a fall of 29.6 percent as the agency states it.
Refineries cannot run much harder
Refinery utilisation was 97.8 percent of operable capacity, down 0.2 percentage points on the week and up from 94.9 percent a year earlier. Crude inputs to refineries were 17.586 million barrels a day, 91,000 higher than the previous week.
Utilisation at 97.8 percent leaves little room to lift aggregate refinery runs further, and it is already 2.9 percentage points above the same week last year on our calculation. Refiners can still shift the mix of products they make from a given barrel; what they cannot easily do is process more barrels. The four week average of crude inputs is 3.1 percent above the same period a year ago.
Production was reported at 13.947 million barrels a day, up 85,000 on the week. The agency states that 65,000 barrels a day of that increase is a re-benchmarking adjustment, which is 76.5 percent of the weekly rise on our calculation, leaving about 20,000 barrels a day as the underlying movement.
Exports swung hard and demand did not
Crude exports fell to 3.417 million barrels a day from 4.483 million the week before, a drop of 1.066 million on the week. Refined product exports rose 1.038 million to 8.451 million, so the two nearly cancelled and the combined total fell 28,000.
Demand is measured on a four week average and is not comparable with those weekly swings. Total products supplied averaged 20.119 million barrels a day over the four weeks to 4 September, 3.7 percent below the same four weeks a year earlier. Gasoline supplied was 1.4 percent lower and distillate 2.6 percent lower.
Retail diesel tells the same story from the other end. The on highway price was 5.967 dollars a gallon on 7 September, up 36.8 cents on the week and 2.201 dollars on the year, a rise of 58.4 percent on our calculation.
Why it matters: The distillate line is where a fuel shock shows up first, and it is doing two things at once. Stocks built for the week, so the immediate squeeze eased, yet they remain 13 percent below the five year average and 11.9 percent below last year while refineries run at 97.8 percent of capacity. With utilisation that high there is little room to rebuild the deficit through higher runs. At the same time distillate demand is 2.6 percent lower than a year ago on a four week basis, with retail diesel at 5.967 dollars a gallon.
Outlook: The next report is due on 16 September and returns to the usual Wednesday. Two figures decide whether the distillate deficit closes: utilisation, which has almost no room left above 97.8 percent, and the four week demand average, which is falling. If stocks keep building only because demand is falling rather than because output is rising, the deficit will close for the wrong reason. Both the production estimate and the re-benchmarking adjustment inside it are the agency’s own weekly estimates rather than survey counts.
Sources: US Energy Information Administration.
