Gains in US crude, pushing down prices

On Wednesday 23^rd October, the US EIA released its weekly petroleum status report which said that US commercial crude inventories have increased by 5.2 million bbls over the last week. This maintains commercial crude inventories at 379.8 million bbls and keeps it in the upper regions of the five year average.

Oil product inventories
Over the past week gasoline inventories decreased by 1.8 million bbls and still sit at the top of the five year average. Motor gasoline levels remained flat at 8.8 million bbls. Distillate inventories have risen by 1.5 million bbls over the past week and remain at the lower end of the five year range.

Prices, imports and processing

• Before the report was released crude was trading at US$ 96.50 /bbl and slipped to US$ 96.30 after it was released.
• Crude imports averaged 7.7 million bpd over the analysis week, down approximately 348 000 bpd from the previous week.
• Refinery capacity was at 85.9% with output averaging 14.9 million bpd, this is nearly 2000 bpd higher than the previous week’s figures.

Adapted from press release by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/24102013/us_crude_gains_and_prices/