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Economy/Distillate Cover
CommoditiesUpdated with every release

US Distillate Days of Supply

Distillate inventories divided by the trailing four-week average of product supplied, in days, from the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report. Weekly since March 1991. It is the inventory series scaled by how fast the fuel is being used, which is the number a refiner or a trucking company actually cares about.

Distillate CoverReleased 2026-09-09covers 2026-09-04
28.6
from 28.5

Days of supply

4-week avg
28.2
All-time high 54.3 (2020-06)
All-time low 21.8 (2003-02)
Since 1991
Observations 1,853

Next release: ≈ Sep 16, 2026

Latest reading

As of September 4, 2026, Distillate Cover (Days of supply) stands at 28.6 — up from 28.5 the prior reading, 47% below the June 5, 2020 record of 54.3. Cover below 30 days is thin and below 25 is where price does the rationing. The series is seasonal, with a build into winter for heating oil, so the fair comparison is against the same week in earlier years rather than against the whole record. When cover sits near the bottom of its September range while refineries run flat out, there is no slack left in the system and the diesel crack carries the adjustment. Series history runs from 1991 to present.

Sources, methodology & freshnessLast updated 2026-09-14 · Open ↓
Source
EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report (W_EPD0_VSD_NUS_DAYS), weekly, days; release date estimated as the Wednesday after each survey week
Methodology
Complete weekly history, charted as released — release-dated readings, no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states
Updates
Weekly, with every releaseLast: 2026-09-14
Maintained & reviewed by Yuriy Matso — methodology shown on the page.
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Full history

Range:
Days of supply4-week averageSPY price (right, since 1993)
02

Methodology & data

Distillate Cover is sourced from EIA directly from the publisher’s own dataset (EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report (W_EPD0_VSD_NUS_DAYS), weekly, days; release date estimated as the Wednesday after each survey week). We pull the complete history, chart it on a weekly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.

Every reading is stamped with its release date, last updated 2026-09-14. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.

03

Frequently asked questions

What is the US Distillate Days of Supply?

Distillate inventories divided by the trailing four-week average of product supplied, in days, from the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report. Weekly since March 1991. It is the inventory series scaled by how fast the fuel is being used, which is the number a refiner or a trucking company actually cares about.

How do you read Distillate Cover?

Cover below 30 days is thin and below 25 is where price does the rationing. The series is seasonal, with a build into winter for heating oil, so the fair comparison is against the same week in earlier years rather than against the whole record. When cover sits near the bottom of its September range while refineries run flat out, there is no slack left in the system and the diesel crack carries the adjustment.

Where does the Distillate Cover data come from?

EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report (W_EPD0_VSD_NUS_DAYS), weekly, days; release date estimated as the Wednesday after each survey week. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/distillate-days-supply.csv.

How often is Distillate Cover updated?

Distillate Cover is a weekly series from EIA, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts from EIA.