While the dust may now have settled on last week’s OPEC meeting, the cartel’s impact on U.S. oil inventories is set to linger on. Stocks are at their lowest level since January 2016, and are down over 80 million barrels from their peak in March – in spite of a 30 million barrel injection from the SPR. As we head into the holiday season, the U.S. should expect little in the way of holiday cheer from OPEC flows. U.S. imports of OPEC crude have averaged 3.26 million barrels per day through the first eleven months of this year, a smidge higher than last year’s average. Although imports started out the year at 3.7mn bpd in January, the highest monthly level since 2013, we have seen them dropping below the 3mn bpd mark in recent months – led by a significant drop in deliveries from Saudi Arabia. (Click to enlarge) […]