MONTREAL (Oil Monster): U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 900,000 barrels during the week ended September 25, while gasoline and distillate stocks declined as refinery activity slowed, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Excluding crude held in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, commercial inventories rose to 427.3 million barrels. Stocks were about 2% above the five-year average for this time of year.
U.S. refineries processed an average of 16.3 million barrels of crude oil per day during the week, down 554,000 b/d from the previous week's average.
Refineries operated at 92.5% of operable capacity, indicating a pullback in processing activity from the prior week.
Gasoline production averaged 9.5 million b/d, while distillate fuel production declined to approximately 5 million b/d.
Despite the increase in crude stocks, inventories of key refined products declined.
Motor gasoline inventories fell by 1.7 million barrels and stood about 7% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Distillate fuel inventories dropped by 2.3 million barrels and remained about 14% below the five-year seasonal average.
The relatively low distillate stock level remains notable as markets monitor diesel and other middle-distillate supplies heading into the colder months.
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Propane and propylene inventories increased by 1.8 million barrels during the week.
Stocks stood about 20% above the five-year average for this time of year, providing a sharp contrast with below-average gasoline and distillate inventories.
Across all products, however, total U.S. commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 7 million barrels during the week.
U.S. crude oil imports declined by 179,000 b/d from the previous week to an average of 5.7 million b/d.
Over the latest four-week period, crude imports averaged approximately 6.4 million b/d, which was 4.8% higher than during the comparable period a year earlier.
Gasoline imports averaged 500,000 b/d during the week, while distillate imports averaged 153,000 b/d.
Total petroleum products supplied, EIA's broad measure of implied U.S. petroleum demand, averaged 20.8 million b/d over the latest four weeks.
That was 2.1% higher than during the same four-week period last year.
Gasoline product supplied averaged 8.7 million b/d, up 0.3% year over year, while distillate product supplied averaged 3.8 million b/d, an increase of 5.2%.
Jet fuel product supplied was up 6.5% from the comparable four-week period a year earlier.
The latest data show a split between crude availability and refined-product inventories.
Commercial crude stocks increased and remained above their five-year seasonal average, while gasoline and distillate inventories moved lower and remained below normal levels.
The combination of lower refinery throughput and relatively strong petroleum-product demand will remain important as the market assesses U.S. supply conditions heading into the final quarter of the year.
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Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration; Oil & Gas Journal.
Courtesy: www.ogj.com
