In the week ending September 13, U.S. commercial crude oil stockpiles, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, experienced a decline of 1.6 million barrels, bringing total inventories to 417.5 million barrels. This level is approximately 4% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Analysts had anticipated a smaller decrease of 1 million barrels, based on a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal. Despite the drop in commercial crude stocks, oil reserves in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased by 655,000 barrels, reaching 380.6 million barrels. At the same time, crude oil storage at Cushing, Oklahoma, decreased by 2 million barrels to 22.7 million barrels.
The decline in inventories was driven by lower production and imports. U.S. crude oil production fell by 100,000 barrels per day to 13.2 million barrels per day, while imports dropped by 545,000 barrels per day to 6.3 million barrels per day. The decrease in production was partly attributed to disruptions caused by Hurricane Francine, which made landfall in Louisiana, leading to temporary closures of some Gulf of Mexico oil facilities. Meanwhile, crude oil exports increased by 1.3 million barrels per day to 4.6 million barrels per day.
Refinery utilization also saw a slight decrease, with capacity use falling by 0.7 percentage points to 92.1%. Refineries along the Gulf Coast reported a 1 percentage point drop in operations.
Gasoline inventories rose slightly by 69,000 barrels to 221.6 million barrels, remaining just below the five-year average. Distillate fuel stocks also increased by 125,000 barrels, although they remain 9% below the five-year average. Demand for gasoline grew by 298,000 barrels per day to 8.8 million barrels per day, while demand for distillate fuels increased by 240,000 barrels per day, reaching 3.8 million barrels per day.
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This article is based on the original work by Anthony Harrup.
