Saudi Aramco’s (ARMCO) plan to drain U.S. crude oil inventories in 2019 failed. U.S. imports of crude oil from Saudi Arabia did in fact drop in 2019, but the reduction was more than offset by increased domestic production (see analysis).
But as U.S. refinery utilization is expected to ramp up, U.S. crude stocks may be on the cusp of their seasonal decline. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih noted over the weekend meeting of OPEC’s market Monitoring Committee,
“We see inventories rising. We see plentiful supply around the world ... which means we think,