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Another Big Reason to Think Oil Prices Aren't Going Up Soon
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" A/ o! p0 x/ a6 Eby Tom Randall
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6 ?2 _0 l+ d3 Z, M6 ?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.
& y: @% [; w2 q7 zOil '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.
0 o5 P' h4 }. 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. 2 G) @" T- B9 K5 V9 z/ H: N
U.S. Oil Inventories Reach 80-Year High3 f( Q3 z7 s+ C0 A! r
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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. 7 R2 H" L' G- O/ A! o
Winter 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.
" u' b! _/ R7 a; e3 nMeanwhile, the U.S. is pumping oil at a faster pace than any time since 1972.
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. O2 P1 B+ g; `3 X# K* RU.S. oil production since 1983. Source: EIA
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