February 19, 2026 [Oil Price]- The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 609,000 barrels in the week ending February 13, after increasing by 13.4 million barrels in the week prior.

Inventories in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) keep climbing week after week. The Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories rose by 200,000 barrels to 415.4 million barrels in the week ending February 13. This is 310.1 million barrels shy of maximum capacity.

US production stopped its fifth week in a row losing streak, with the average rising by 498,000 bpd during the week of February 6 to 13.713 million bpd, according to the latest EIA data. This is 219,000 bpd more than this same time last year.

At 2:13 pm ET, Brent crude was trading up on the day at $70.38 (+4.39%). Brent is now roughly $1.60 per barrel up from this time last week. WTI was also trading up on the day, by $2.92 (+4.68%) at $65.25.

Gasoline inventories also fell this week, shrinking by 312,000 barrels in the week ending February 13. In the week prior, gasoline inventories rose by 3.3 million barrels. As of last week, gasoline inventories were 4% above the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.

Distillate inventories fell in the reporting period by 1.56 million barrels, after losing 2.0 million barrels in the week prior. Distillate inventories were 4% below the five-year average as of the week ending February 6, the latest EIA data shows. 

Cushing inventory—the inventory kept at the delivery hub for the WTI Crude futures contract—fell by 1.36 million barrels, after increasing by 1.4 million barrels in the prior week.