Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply Monthly Starting with the Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR) published on Thursday, October 13, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will no longer include crude oil lease stocks in U.S. total commercial crude oil inventory data. Crude oil lease stocks refer to oil (currently about 31 million barrels) that is stored in tanks at sites across the United States where producers are drilling on leased land. Lease stocks are not yet available for commercial use, and in many cases, operators do not count them as production until the oil is transferred off the lease. Lease stocks have been a relatively small and stable portion of total U.S. crude oil inventories, ranging from just 30.6 million barrels (5.8%) to 33.1 million barrels (7.4%) from January 2014 through June 2016. Over that same time period, total U.S. commercial crude oil stocks have increased from […]