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 rose 3.2million barrels (MMbbl) to a total of 426 MMbbl. At 426 MMbbl, inventories are 28.9 MMbbl below last year (-6.4%) and are ~1% above the five year average for this time of year. Stockpiles at the major delivery point in Cushing, OK, rose 1.9 MMbbl to a total of 31.9 million barrels.

GASOLINE INVENTORIES:
Gasoline inventories fell 3.2 million barrels to a total of 226.2 MMbbl. At 226.2 MMbbl, inventories are up 13.4 MMbbl, or 6.3% higher than a year ago and are about 6% above the five year average range for this time of year.

Here’s how individual regions and their and their gasoline inventories fared:
East Coast (- 0.3 MMbbl)
MidWest (- 0.5 MMbbl)
Gulf Coast (+ 1.5 MMbbl)
Rockies (+ 0.2 MMbbl)
West Coast (- 0.5 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 decreased by 4.1 million barrels last week, to a total of 126.3 MMbbl. At 126.3 MMbbl, inventories are down 2.6 MMbbl, or 2% 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 9.262 MMbbl per day or 62,000 bpd lower than the previous week. So far in 2018, implied (“products supplied”) is .3% lower versus 2017, per the EIA.

REFINERY OUTPUT/UTILIZATION:
Refinery utilization increased by 0.2 % vs. last week’s numbers, to 89.4 %. Gasoline production increased 0.336 million barrels per day to 10.4 million barrels per day while distillate fuel production rose to 4.98 million barrels per day last week

Utilization rates for the last week were as follows:
East Coast: 76.3% (-1.5%)
Midwest: 75.4% (+1.3%)
Gulf Coast 96.5% (+0.6%)
Rocky Mountain 91.3% (-3.3%)
West Coast 90.4% (-0.9%)

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 17.5 million barrels (- 1.2%) versus a year ago and stand at 1.249 billion barrels (excluding he Strategic Petroleum Reserve).

IMPORTS/EXPORTS:
The U.S. imported 7.3 MMbpd of crude oil per day last week, down by 334 thousand barrels vs. the previous week, while crude oil exports rose 305,000 bpd to 2.485 MMbpd. Total motor gasoline imports last week, averaged 363,000 bpd. The U.S. also imported 141,000 bpd of distillate fuels. However, during the same time frame, the U.S. exported 1,012,000 bpd of finished gasoline and 1,277,000 bpd of distillates. In total, U.S. refineries exported 7.84 MMbpd of oil and petroleum products.

Shortly before the EIA report was released, oil was trading down 27 cents at $65.91 a barrel. Shortly after the report was released oil reversed course, up 19 cents a barrel.