Crude oil corrects, US gasoline inventories see sharp spike

WTI Crude oil futures saw a large uptick in last session but failed to hold onto the gains. A rise in US gasoline inventories clubbed with selling pressure around six-week highs capped upside for the counter. Data out yesterday showed that for the week ending October 23, 2026, US refineries processed 16.5 million barrels per day (b/d), down 123,000 b/d from the previous week, at 92.8% capacity utilization. US gasoline stocks rose by 3.9 million barrels in the week to 209.2 million barrels, marking the strongest surge in nine months. US crude oil imports also stayed elevated. Crude oil imports increased 616,000 b/d to 6.4 million b/d, and the four-week average of 6.3 million b/d is 9.3% above the year-ago level.

However, the US commercial crude oil inventories (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) decreased 1.9 million barrels to 410.6 million barrels, 4% below the five-year average. Over the past four weeks, total product supplied averaged 20.8 million b/d, up 0.2% year over year. This reflects a mixed picture for the US oil products scenario. Global cues will be keenly eyed in such a scenario and oil will mostly trade in a choppy manner after gaining more than 12% this month so far. WTI Crude oil futures are currently trading at $101.30 per barrel, down 1.40% on the day. MCX Crude oil futures are trading at Rs 9672 per barrel, down 1.29% on the day after falling near Rs 9630 per barrel in morning trades.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at 3.75-4% on Wednesday. Fed said inflation remains above its target and that it needs more information to assess the appropriate policy path. This offered decent support to the US equities and also pulled oil higher as WTI futures spiked around 3% on the day.

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