Weekly Oil Data

Inventories, Exports, Imports, and Refinery Utilization

MAIN TAKEAWAY

Another large crude build was reported today by the EIA, yet oil prices increased by about 2%.  While this is attributed to a few factors, we believe that the increase in commercial inventories was necessary to compensate for the decline in the SPR.  Within a certain range, there is a substitution between oil in the SPR and oil in commercial inventories.  Diesel inventories will remain a concern until the end of the refinery maintenance season.

Please note that it is normal for inventories to build at this time of the year. The decline in gasoline inventories could be related to a drop in refinery utilization.

IN DETAIL

• The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported another large increase in commercial crude oil inventories by 7.6 million barrels (mb) to 479 mb.

• The EIA also reported a decrease in gasoline inventories by 1.8 mb to 240.1 mb.  Distillate inventories increased by 2.70 mb to 121.9 mb. Tables (1) and (2) below sum up the changes.

Table (1)