Why a trader cares
A crude draw caused by lower imports is different from one caused by stronger refinery demand. The components explain the mechanism.
Data & AnalyticsInventories / EIA
Reported physical balanceLive
Move beyond the headline build or draw.
Enerlytics organizes the weekly EIA balance into storage, supply, refining, trade, products, and natural-gas views with consistent date controls.
Question answered
Which part of the reported balance created the change, and is it seasonally unusual?
Built for more than one level of market experience
Start simple. Keep the professional context.
Every screen preserves the instrument, period, unit, source, and limitation while explaining why the evidence matters.
Start here01
Identify the observation before interpreting it.
Read the instrument, unit, timestamp, period, and source first. A weekly stock estimate and a five-minute futures quote answer different questions.
Desk read02
Compare level, change, and historical context.
The current value matters less without its direction of travel, seasonal baseline, related markets, and the catalyst that moved expectations.
Professional use03
Demand cross-source confirmation and preserve uncertainty.
Treat every dataset as evidence with a release lag, methodology, revision risk, and known blind spots. The workflow should be reproducible after the fact.
Component guide
What each component means—and how a desk reads it.
Definitions stay plain enough to learn from, while the desk read preserves the mechanism, cadence, and source a professional user expects.
Commercial crude versus SPR
In plain English
Commercial stocks measure industry-held crude; the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is government-held and shown separately.
Professional read
Combining them can obscure the inventory immediately available to the commercial system and the policy nature of SPR movements.
- Cadence
- Weekly EIA release
- Source
- EIA WPSR
Cushing and PADDs
In plain English
Cushing is the WTI delivery hub; Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts split the national stock into operating regions.
Professional read
A national build can coexist with a Cushing draw or a coastal imbalance, producing different implications for prompt spreads and regional logistics.
- Cadence
- Weekly EIA release
- Source
- EIA WPSR regional stock tables
Refinery inputs and utilization
In plain English
Crude inputs measure barrels run; utilization expresses gross input relative to operable capacity.
Professional read
Higher runs can draw crude while increasing gasoline and distillate supply. Turnarounds and outages make the seasonal comparison essential.
- Cadence
- Weekly EIA release
- Source
- EIA WPSR refinery surveys
Imports, exports, and net imports
In plain English
Trade changes the domestic balance between production, refinery demand, and reported stock change.
Professional read
A crude draw driven by unusually low imports may be less durable than one accompanied by strong refinery runs and exports.
- Cadence
- Weekly EIA release
- Source
- EIA WPSR trade estimates
Product stocks and supplied demand
In plain English
Gasoline, distillate, jet fuel, propane, and other product lines show downstream inventory and balance-derived disappearance.
Professional read
Product supplied is commonly used as a demand proxy but can be noisy; multi-week averages and seasonal context matter.
- Cadence
- Weekly EIA release
- Source
- EIA WPSR petroleum balance
Natural-gas storage
In plain English
Working gas level and weekly net change are compared with year-ago and calendar-aligned five-year references.
Professional read
Interpret the surprise through weather, production, LNG, and pipeline demand—not as a standalone directional rule.
- Cadence
- Weekly EIA release
- Source
- EIA WNGSR
What data it uses
The evidence underneath the screen.
- Commercial crude, SPR, Cushing, and PADD stocks
- Production, imports, exports, and net imports
- Refinery inputs and utilization
- Product stocks and supplied demand
- Seasonally aligned natural-gas storage
How Enerlytics interprets it
Method before conclusion.
- 01
Calculates week-over-week and year-over-year changes
- 02
Keeps SPR separate from commercial availability
- 03
Uses calendar-aligned five-year context rather than a rolling seasonal mixture
How it connects
Evidence moves through a workflow.
- 01Headline change
- 02Balance components
- 03Regional context
- 04Seasonal comparison
- 05Price and curve reaction
What not to infer
Weekly data is revised and noisy. One report should be interpreted with the curve, price reaction, and multi-week direction.
Worked market workflow
Decompose the headline build or draw
The national change is the result. The desk question is which balance components produced it and whether they can persist.
- 1
Read the period
Use the week-ending date and compare with prior week, prior year, and the appropriate seasonal range.
- 2
Locate the change
Separate commercial, SPR, Cushing, PADD, and product stocks.
- 3
Explain the balance
Review production, trade, refinery runs, and stock-change or adjustment lines.
- 4
Observe reaction
Check whether price and curve structure accepted or faded the release.
Methodology and limitations
Trust comes from showing the seams.
Survey estimates and revisions
The WPSR is built from weekly surveys and estimates across the petroleum supply chain. Weekly values can be revised and may differ from later monthly data.
Seasonality is explicit
Five-year comparisons use corresponding seasonal periods. Natural-gas storage follows calendar-aligned logic instead of a rolling 260-week mixture.
Verified production coverage
Coverage reviewed against the production data store on October 2, 2026. Live totals continue to grow.
- The production petroleum store contains 71 distinct WPSR series and more than 66,000 observations back to 2010.
- Natural-gas storage includes Lower-48 and regional history back to 2010.
Primary references
Enerlytics links the underlying methodology so customers can distinguish a product interpretation from the source definition.
See the product
A real Enerlytics workflow—not a conceptual mockup.
Weekly research, recaps, and video explainers
See the evidence used in a real market conversation.
Enerlytics publishes weekly market recaps, component explainers, and thesis walkthroughs. For Inventories / EIA, the recurring desk question is: Which supply, trade, refining, or demand component actually produced this week's inventory headline?
Weekly market notes →Written recaps tied to the same evidence workflow.Public signal reviews →Current states with accountability and limitations.Video recaps on X →Short market recaps, chart walkthroughs, and thesis updates.Explainers on Threads →Component education and the reasoning behind each market read.
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