EIA: US crude and fuel stocks rise due to lower demand
The Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that U.S. crude, gasoline, and distillate inventory levels increased last week, as demand and refining activity slowed.
The EIA reported that crude inventories increased by 1.8million barrels, to 416.5million barrels for the week ending September 26. This was compared to analysts' expectations in an online poll of a one-million barrel increase.
According to the EIA, crude stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma's delivery hub dropped by 271,000 barrels during the past week. The oil futures continued to fall following the higher-than-expected increase in stocks. Brent crude futures traded at $65.52 per barrel at 10:53 am EDT (1453 GMT), down 51 cents, while U.S. oil was trading at $61.87 per barrel. Oil market participants were disappointed by the report due to large inventories across key products. The implied oil demand was weaker as well, which explains the build-up of refined products, said Giovanni Staunovo. Total product supply, which is a proxy of demand, dropped by 627,000 barrels a day (bpd). This brought the total to 20,17 million bpd. The gasoline consumption fell by 441,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 8.52 millions bpd. The EIA reported that U.S. Crude exports fell by 793,000 Bpd this week to 4.48 Million Bpd while U.S. net crude imports increased by 71,000 Bpd. "Crude inventories rose after a decline in exports. This was not very hot and could indicate some weak demand." "We are also starting to do seasonal refinery maintenance," said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group.
The refinery crude run fell by 308,000 barrels per day, and the utilization rate fell by 1.6 percentage point to 91.4%.
The EIA reported that gasoline stocks increased by 4.1m barrels last week, to 220.7m barrels. This was a far cry from the 675,000 barrels expected.
Stockpiles of distillate, including diesel and heating oil rose by 578,000 barges in the past week, as opposed to forecasts that predicted a drop of 1.1 million barrels.
(source: Reuters)
