US Weekly Oil Data

US Inventories, Exports, Imports, and Refinery Utilization (11 Charts).

MAIN TAKEAWAYS

Although crude oil inventories increased by more than double the average expectations, they increased along historical trends. The large draw in gasoline and distillate inventories did not follow normal historical trends.

Crud inventories increased as imports increased markedly while exports declined at a time when refinery utilization also declined. However, the large adjustment raises questions about the EIA’s efforts to minimize it. It reached about -11 mb last week.

The decline in refinery utilization doesn’t explain all the drop in gasoline inventories but the EIA shows a large increase in demand that exceeded 700 kbd w/w. Regardless, weekly data contains a lot of noise.   

While US imports increased markedly, US exports declined as stated earlier.  The impact of the Houthi Attacks on ships and oil tankers in the Gulf of Adan and the Red Sea on US oil shipments are unclear yet, but US oil exports to Asia declined by two thirds from their peak in early October.  How much of the decline is related to Houthi Attacks and how much is related to lower demand? How much is the result of decrease in US production from the freeze that hits most of the US? We do not know. 

IN DETAIL