The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly report today on the status of petroleum inventories in the United States. Here are some highlights:

CRUDE INVENTORIES:
Crude oil inventories fell 4.3 million barrels (MMbbl) to a total of 401.9 MMbbl. At 401.9 MMbbl, inventories are 51 MMbbl below last year (13%) and are 6% above the five year average for this time of year. Stockpiles at the major delivery point in Cushing, OK, rose 0.55 MMbbl to a total of 24.83 million barrels.

GASOLINE INVENTORIES
Gasoline inventories rose 1.8 million barrels to a total of 234.6 MMbbl. At 234.6 MMbbl, inventories are up 8.1 MMbbl, or 3% higher than a year ago and are about 7% higher than the five year average range for this time of year.

Here’s how individual regions and their and their gasoline inventories fared:
East Coast (+ 2.1 MMbbl)
MidWest (+ 0.1 MMbbl)
Gulf Coast (+ 0.2 MMbbl)
Rockies (+ 0.6 MMbbl)
West Coast (- 0.6 MMbbl)

It’s important to note which regions saw increases/decreases as this information drives prices up (in the case of falling inventories) or down (when inventories rise).

DISTILLATE (DIESEL, HEATING OIL) INVENTORIES:
Distillate inventories increased by 3.1 million barrels last week, to a total of 133.1 MMbbl. At 133.1 MMbbl, inventories are down 14.6 MMbbl, or 11% lower vs a year ago. Distillate inventories now stand at 6 percent below the five year average range for his time of year.

IMPLIED GASOLINE DEMAND:
Gasoline supplied to end users amounted to 9.73 MMbbl per day or 165,000 bpd lower than the previous week. So far in 2018, implied (“products supplied”) is 5.1% higher versus 2017, per the EIA.

REFINERY OUTPUT/UTILIZATION
Refinery utilization increased by 0.3 % vs. last week’s numbers, to 96.6 %. Gasoline production increased 0.24 million barrels per day to 10.07 million barrels per day while distillate fuel production rose to 5.438 million barrels per day last week

Utilization rates for the last week were as follows:
East Coast: 88.6% (-0.4%)
Midwest: 98.0% (-1.9%)
Gulf Coast 97.2% (+ 1.4%)
Rocky Mountain 90.3% (+2.0%)
West Coast 97.4% (-1.0%)

These percentages show how much of a region’s overall capacity were used to refine oil. It’s important to note these percentages, because the lower the utilization percent, the lower output – which has a direct impact on local gasoline prices. If refiners in a given region have low output, your gas prices are likely to rise.

OVERALL SUPPLY:
Total oil stocks in the United States are down by 79.5 million barrels ( – 7.0 %) versus a year ago and stand at 1.062 billion barrels (excluding he Strategic Petroleum Reserve).

IMPORTS/EXPORTS
The U.S. imported 7.71 MMbpd of crude oil per day last week, up by 220 thousand barrels vs. the previous week, while crude oil exports fell 170,000 bpd to 1.508 MMbpd. Total motor gasoline imports last week, averaged 988,000 bpd. The U.S. also imported 286,000 bpd of distillate fuels. However, during the same time frame, the U.S. exported 477,000 bpd of finished gasoline and 989,000 bpd of distillates. In total, U.S. refineries exported 5.57 MMbpd of oil and petroleum products.

Shortly before the EIA report was released, oil was trading up 3 cents at $68.75 a barrel. Shortly after the report was released oil accelerated its losses, down $ 0.87 a barrel.

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