USA Commercial Crude Oil Inventories Rise

by Andreas Exarheas
click here to read the original article at Rigzone.com
*this article was not written by Roseland Oil & Gas

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR),  increased by 2.9 million barrels from the week ending December 8 to the week ending December 15, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest weekly petroleum status report.

The country’s crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, were at 443.7 million barrels on December 15, 440.8 million barrels on December 8, and 418.2 million barrels on December 16, 2022, the report showed. Crude oil in the SPR totaled 352.5 million barrels on December 15, 351.9 million barrels on December 8, and 378.6 million barrels on December 16, 2022, the report revealed.

Total petroleum stocks in the U.S. – including crude oil, total motor gasoline, fuel ethanol, kerosene type jet fuel, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, propane/propylene, and other oils – were at 1.614 billion barrels on December 15, the report outlined. This figure was up 3.3 million barrels week on week and up 16.3 million barrels year on year, the report highlighted.

“At 443.7 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about one percent below the five year average for this time of year,” the EIA noted in its latest weekly petroleum status report.

“Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 2.7 million barrels from last week and are about two percent below the five year average for this time of year. Both finished gasoline and blending components inventories increased last week,” it added.

“Distillate fuel inventories increased by 1.5 million barrels last week and are about 10 percent below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories decreased by 2.2 million barrels from last week and are 19 percent above the five year average for this time of year,” it continued.

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.5 million barrels per day during the week ending December 15, the EIA stated in the report. This was 403,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average, the EIA highlighted in the report.

“Refineries operated at 92.4 percent of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 10.0 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging 4.9 million barrels per day,” the EIA said in the report.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.8 million barrels per day last week, according to the EIA report, which outlined that this figure increased by 233,000 barrels per day from the previous week.

“Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.7 million barrels per day, 7.6 percent more than the same four-week period last year,” the EIA said in the report.

“Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 537,000 barrels per day, and distillate fuel imports averaged 225,000 barrels per day,” it added.

The EIA also noted in the report that total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.1 million barrels a day. This was up by 0.2 percent from the same period last year, the report revealed.

“Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.6 million barrels a day, up by 1.9 percent from the same period last year,” the EIA said in the report.

“Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.6 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, down by 4.2 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was down 4.0 percent compared with the same four-week period last year,” it added.

In a report sent to Rigzone prior to the release of the EIA’s latest weekly petroleum status report, Macquarie strategists revealed that they were forecasting that U.S. crude inventories would be up 2.4 million barrels for the week ending December 15.

“This compares to a 4.3 million barrel draw for the week ending December 8, with the total U.S. crude balance realizing much tighter than we had anticipated,” the strategists said in the report.

“Across the last six weeks in total, U.S. crude balances have nevertheless realized looser than our week-to-week expectations, albeit with significant weekly variance,” they added.

“Moving to this week, from refineries, we look for a moderate increase in crude runs (+0.3 million barrels per day). In light of heavy underperformance from refinery runs as the U.S. has exited turnaround season, we continue to flag potential for an eventual catch-up here, driving additional volatility in U.S. balances,” they continued.

“Among net imports, we model a slight week on week increase, with exports nominally higher (+0.1 million barrels per day) and imports also higher (+0.3 million barrels per day). From implied domestic supply (production+adjustment+transfers), we again look for a bounce-back (+1.1 million barrels per day) following another weak print last week,” the Macquarie strategists went on to note.

The strategists also revealed in the report that they anticipated “a modest increase (+0.6 million barrels) in SPR inventory on the week”.

by Andreas Exarheas
click here to read the original article at Rigzone.com
*this article was not written by Roseland Oil & Gas