Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Petroleum Status Report Crude oil inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the primary crude oil storage location in the United States, decreased 13 million barrels (32%) over the past two months. On March 21, Cushing inventories were less than 29 million barrels, more than 20 million barrels lower than a year ago and the lowest level since early 2012 . Cushing is the delivery location for the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures contract. The recent drawdown of stocks at Cushing resulted from three factors: The startup of TransCanada’s Cushing Marketlink pipeline, which is now moving crude oil from Cushing to the U.S. Gulf Coast Sustained high crude oil runs at refineries in Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts (PADD) 2 (Midwest) and 3 (Gulf Coast), which are partially supplied from Cushing Expanded pipeline infrastructure and railroad shipments that have […]