While they are likely to remain above their long-term average for the rest of the year, oil inventories have been dropping like a stone in recent weeks. This week, stockpiles fell 4.8 million barrels, marking the third straight week where inventories declined by more than 3.5 million barrels. While inventories were running more than 20 million barrels above normal at the start of the quarter, current levels are now less than 6 million barrels above average.
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