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Another Big Reason to Think Oil Prices Aren't Going Up Soon. r; \' I. H4 N
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by Tom Randall' O& w7 M3 k; `& `& p5 n; L; W- H
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Oil just had its first weekly decline in a month, breaking a rally in crude prices. A bit of context: After what's happened over the last year, "rally" seems a bit of an overstatement. 8 X' f) \# y- Q& z; O9 O
Oil 'Rally'
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One big factor that may be driving prices down this week: The U.S. is pumping so much oil it's running out of places to stash it.
; Q; @; \% l9 vCrude oil in storage in the U.S. has jumped to the highest levels in at least 80 years, according to a Bloomberg Industries analysis. The EIA this week reported that U.S. inventories rose 7.7 million barrels to 425.6 million. That's more than 20 percent higher than the five-year average. ; Z# U* v$ s A( A
U.S. Oil Inventories Reach 80-Year High2 o8 W& a) L& t6 ]9 I- W$ C% e
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The buildup of supply has been "colossal" and is responsible for oil prices falling this week, Thomas Finlon, director of Energy Analytics Group LLC, told Bloomberg News.
9 ?) w# i7 A8 UWinter weather and refinery outages have contributed to the supply glut. Even when those conditions subside, topped-out inventories and continued production growth may continue to suppress oil prices for the near- and medium-term, according to Bloomberg Industries.
1 W( `. K& _ ]2 I, f' PMeanwhile, the U.S. is pumping oil at a faster pace than any time since 1972.0 q5 Y0 J) M& p0 U, B
& `) j- p% j i) f5 r$ t, N# aU.S. oil production since 1983. Source: EIA
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