LONDON/HOUSTON/SINGAPORE, June 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cushing crude storage levels have plummeted in recent months. Inventories fell 11.3 million barrels (mmbbls) to less than 25 mmbbls between early April and early June, according to Wood Mackenzie. The firm's monitoring spans fixed-roof tanks, caverns, and floating-roof tanks, producing more complete and reliable datasets than satellite-sourced alternatives. While satellite data can estimate volumes in floating-roof tanks, it cannot measure levels in fixed-roof tanks or underground storage caverns. This comprehensive coverage gives Wood Mackenzie unique visibility into US and global crude storage dynamics.
“Rapid Cushing storage draws have been spurred by global supply disruptions surrounding the Middle East conflict. Although domestic supply remains unaffected in the US and Canada, global shortages have supported surges in US crude exports and refinery runs. Shifting balances have contributed to steep US commercial storage draws, despite substantial Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) releases into US Gulf Coast markets,” said Dylan White, Director North American Crude Markets at Wood Mackenzie.
Cushing storage capacity utilisation fell below 29% in early June. This compares to the all-time low of 26.7%, which has proven a reliable proxy for Cushing's operational floor. Wood Mackenzie assesses that recent Cushing inventories were less than two mmbbls above minimum levels. If draws persist, Cushing could reach the floor within one to two weeks.
'We are at a critical juncture. The pace of Cushing draws has left the buffer exceptionally thin. The market is responding. But greater flows into Cushing shifts volumes away from other key hubs where inventories are also low,” said White.
The market has already reacted as Cushing nears tank bottoms. Permian pipeline flows to Cushing — and away from the US Gulf Coast — have spiked to maintain minimum physical inventories. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) price spreads between Cushing and the coast have tightened considerably. Petroleum Administration for Defense District 3 (PADD 3) crude inventories have also been drawing since early May.
Wood Mackenzie expects storage inventory draws to accelerate at key hubs across the US now that Cushing is nearly empty. Continued stock draws could drive critical inventory levels at key hubs within one to two months. This would eventually limit the US export response that has so far helped supplant global supply losses.
US commercial inventories are a particularly visible measure of fundamental balances. Cushing's role as the physical delivery hub for the US crude benchmark makes broader US crude storage an essential, price-informing component of the evolving global story.
“Global inventories will serve as a powerful price indicator in the months ahead. Stock draws — including SPR, commercial, and floating inventories — have played an important role in softening the blow of lost Middle East supply. The inventory cushion is not infinite. If supply disruptions persist, oil prices are expected to reflect a significantly tighter physical market as stocks are depleted,” concluded White.
ENDS
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- Cushing storage inventories
Mark Thomton Wood Mackenzie 6308816885 mark.thomton@woodmac.com
