USA Crude Oil Stocks Drop Again

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), decreased by 6.3 million barrels from the week ending August 25 to the week ending September 1, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest petroleum status report showed.

The country’s crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 416.6 million barrels on September 1, 422.9 million barrels on August 25, and 427.2 million barrels on September 2, 2022, according to the report.

“At 416.6 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about four percent below the five year average for this time of year,” the EIA noted in the report.

In a report released on August 30, the EIA revealed that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the SPR, decreased by 10.6 million barrels from the week ending August 18 to the week ending August 25. In the report before that, released on August 23, the EIA outlined that stocks were down 6.1 million barrels from the week ending August 11 to the week ending August 18.

SPR crude oil stocks stood at 350.3 million barrels on September 1, 349.5 million barrels on August 25, and 442.5 million barrels on September 2, 2022, the EIA’s latest report highlighted.

According to this report, total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2.7 million barrels and are about five percent below the five year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline and blending components inventories decreased, distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.7 million barrels, and propane/propylene inventories increased 0.5 million barrels, the report revealed. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 0.4 million barrels, the EIA report highlighted.

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.6 million barrels per day during the week ending September 1, the report noted, adding that this was 20,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average.

“Refineries operated at 93.1 percent of their operable capacity last week,” the report stated.

Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.8 million barrels per day, while distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging 5.0 million barrels per day, the EIA report pointed out.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.8 million barrels per day last week and increased by 154,000 barrels per day from the previous week, the report revealed.

“Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.9 million barrels per day, 9.7 percent more than the same four-week period last year,” the report said.

“Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 982,000 barrels per day, and distillate fuel imports averaged 130,000 barrels per day,” it added.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 21.1 million barrels a day, according to the report, which outlined that this was up by 4.9 percent from the same period last year.

“Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.0 million barrels a day, up by 3.0 percent from the same period last year,” the report said.

“Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.8 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, up by 0.3 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was up 3.2 percent compared with the same four-week period last year,” it added.

In a report sent to Rigzone this week, prior to the release of the EIA’s latest petroleum status report, Macquarie strategists revealed that they were forecasting U.S. crude inventories down 8.5 million barrels for the week ending September 1.

“This follows a 10.6 million barrel draw for the week ending August 25, with the total U.S. crude balance realizing modestly tighter than we had anticipated,” the strategists said in the report.

“While we have seen notable week to week volatility, since end-June, total observed U.S. crude draws have roughly matched our weekly estimates in aggregate,” they added.

In the report, the strategists highlighted that, from refineries, they were looking for “another step lower in crude runs (-0.3 MBD)”.

“Among net imports, we look for exports moderately higher on a nominal basis (+0.4 MBD) and imports effectively flat; with respect to the former, we again note export timing could inject a degree of volatility into this week’s stats,” they added.

“From implied domestic supply (prod. + adj.), we look for a moderate week on week increase (+0.4 MBD). Rounding out the picture, we anticipate yet another small increase in SPR inventory on the week (+0.8 MM BBL),” the strategists went on to note.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com