Benchmark · weekly · Thousand Barrels per Day

U.S. crude production vs refinery inputs

Is U.S. crude production running ahead of or behind refinery demand?

This page charts U.S. field production of crude oil against refinery crude inputs, in thousand barrels per day, week by week. It also charts the production minus runs (Crude production minus Refinery crude inputs). A wider production minus runs means Crude production grows faster than Refinery crude inputs, or falls slower. A narrower balance means the opposite. The balance is a flow in units per day. A weekly balance reading is the average daily difference for that week. It describes physical supply and demand direction, not a financial position.
Readingsweekly
Crude production
13804.00Thousand Barrels per Day
Refinery crude inputs
17381.00Thousand Barrels per Day
Production minus runs
-3577.00Thousand Barrels per Day
13-week balance change
−789.00 Thousand Barrels per Day
from -2788.00
Balance percentile
91st
of 1909 readings · since 1990-01-05
U.S. crude production vs refinery inputs
Data through 31 July 2026
0.005,00010,00015,00020,0007 Jan 198311 Oct 199123 Jun 20006 Mar 200917 Nov 201731 Jul 2026
Crude production
Refinery crude inputs
U.S. crude production vs refinery inputs: summary statistics (Max range)
SeriesFirstLatestMinMax
Crude production8634.0013804.003813.0013862.00
Refinery crude inputs12833.0017381.0010300.0018243.00
Source
EIA
Frequency
weekly
Data through
31 July 2026
Refreshed
11 Aug 2026
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How this is calculated

Formula
production minus runs = Crude production − Refinery crude inputs, in thousand barrels per day

Crude production against Refinery crude inputs, both in thousand barrels per day. The chart production minus runs is Crude production minus Refinery crude inputs. A positive balance means the first flow exceeds the second. Weekly observations come from the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR).

As of 31 July 2026, the latest readings are Crude production at 13804.00 Thousand Barrels per Day and Refinery crude inputs at 17381.00 Thousand Barrels per Day. The Crude production line is up 3.9% over the past year and above its long-run median of 7261.00 Thousand Barrels per Day.

How to read it

What a widening or narrowing balance means

On this construction the balance is almost always negative: U.S. field production runs below gross refinery inputs, so the domestic gap is filled by imports (and stock draws) while quality-driven exports still leave the country. A less-negative (narrower) gap means production is closer to covering runs; a more-negative gap means refiners need more foreign or stored barrels. COVID 2020 is the extreme narrowing, not a flip into surplus: runs collapsed harder than production, so production-minus-inputs moved toward zero even as the broader inventory identity built stocks.

Why Refinery crude inputs as the comparator

Gross refinery inputs (EIA gross inputs into refineries) are the domestic absorption line for crude and unfinished oils: they are what field production must feed first, alongside imports and stocks. Comparing the two isolates how far production alone covers domestic runs. Not the export account.

Why the balance is quoted per day

Both flows are weekly totals from the WPSR. Each is divided by the number of days in the report week. That keeps weeks of different length comparable. The balance uses the same daily unit. A balance of +500 thousand barrels per day means the first flow ran 500 kb/d ahead of the second that week.

Limitations

Weekly observations carry revisions. The WPSR revises earlier weeks when new data lands. Production minus runs is a physical flow. Prices also embed stocks, demand, policy, and the financial side of the market. Treat the chart as context for supply and demand conditions, not investment advice.

How this benchmark is used

The domestic production-to-runs gap

Shale-era crude exports coexist with a structural production-minus-runs deficit because U.S. light barrels are the wrong grade for much of Gulf Coast capacity: the country imports heavy crude while exporting light. Watching this gap shows whether domestic field output is closing on refinery absorption, not whether the U.S. is a net crude exporter (that is the crude imports-vs-exports page).

Frequently asked questions

6 answers
What is the current U.S. crude production vs refinery inputs?

As of 31 July 2026, the latest readings are Crude production at 13804.00 Thousand Barrels per Day and Refinery crude inputs at 17381.00 Thousand Barrels per Day. The Crude production line is up 3.9% over the past year and above its long-run median of 7261.00 Thousand Barrels per Day.

How often is this benchmark updated?

This benchmark is built on weekly data. The page is refreshed when the source publishes new observations; the freshness block below the chart shows the exact data-through date and when PIER20 last fetched the file.

What data sources does this chart use?

The chart is built from Crude production and Refinery crude inputs, sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

What does a negative production minus runs mean?

A negative reading means Refinery crude inputs exceeded Crude production that week. The second flow ran ahead of the first. The balance is signed. Positive favors the first flow. Negative favors the second. The percentile cell ranks the latest balance against the full sample.

How is this different from imports vs exports?

The production-vs-inputs comparison is the domestic absorption gap. The imports-vs-exports page is the crude trade balance: what crosses the border. The two connect through identity. Production plus imports must equal inputs plus exports plus stock change. But they measure different sides of it.

How often is the data updated?

Weekly. The Weekly Petroleum Status Report publishes Thursday 1:00 p.m. ET with data through the prior Friday. The fetch retries the next day if a scheduled release is late.

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