April petroleum demand

Total US petroleum deliveries gained 0.7% from April 2014 to average 18.9 million bpd. These were the highest April deliveries since 2010. John Felmy, API Chief Economist said, “although demand for ground transportation fuels fell slightly last month, demand for aviation and marine transportation fuels saw significant gains. As has been the case for some time, the market’s primary themes in April were strong supply and moderate demand growth.”

Crude oil

At approximately 9.3 million bpd, US crude oil production increased by 8.6% from April 2014. This was the third largest crude oil production level in any month since April 1973. NGL production averaged approximately 3.1 million bpd, which was the highest for the month on record and 5.1% higher than April 2014’s output.

Crude oil stocks ended the month at 483.9 million bbls, the highest April inventory level since 1930. Crude stocks were up 3.2% from the prior month, and were up by 23.1% from the year prior. Stocks of motor gasoline ended up by 6% from last year at 228.9 million bbls, the highest April level in 28 years. Distillate fuel oil stocks hit the highest April inventory level since 2011 while stocks of jet fuel and other oils were down.

Oil products

Gasoline demand fell last month by 0.4% from the year before to average just over 8.9 million bpd. Demand for distillate was 1% lower than April 2014 to average 3.9 million bpd. Over the same period, demand increased for jet fuel, residual fuel, and other oils.

US total petroleum imports last month averaged approximately 9.7 million bpd, 1% higher than the prior year but the second lowest April level since 1996. Crude oil imports in April were also up compared with the prior year, increasing by 3.2% from April 2014 to just under 7.8 million bpd. Imports of refined products fell by 7.3% from over the same period to approximately 1.9 million bpd, the lowest level for the month since 1995.

Gasoline production set a new record for the month, increasing 0.4% from the previous April to nearly 9.8 million bpd. Meanwhile, distillate fuel production fell by 1.3% to just over 4.9 million bpd. Year to date production of both gasoline and distillate was also the highest ever.

Refining

Refinery gross inputs in April increased by 0.5% from last year to a record high for the month of 16.3 million bpd. Exports of refined petroleum products were up by 14.8% from a year prior to average nearly 4.6 million bpd, the highest April level ever. The refinery capacity utilisation rate in April averaged above 90% for the first time this year at 91.4%. This was an increase of 0.7% from the same period last year. API’s latest refinery operable capacity was 17.882 million bpd.

Edited from press release by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/22052015/april-petroleum-demand/