Gasoline stocks fall 2.5 million barrels, 6% below five-year average
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that commercial crude oil inventories rose by 95,000 barrels to 428.9 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 21, the fourth consecutive weekly increase. The 95,000-barrel build was smaller than the 500,000-barrel increase projected by analysts in a Wall Street Journal survey. Commercial crude stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve were about 1% above the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said.
Both imports and exports declined during the week. Crude oil imports fell by 435,000 barrels per day to 6.2 million barrels per day, and exports were down by 274,000 barrels per day at 3.8 million barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil production held steady at an estimated 13.8 million barrels per day, up by 13,000 barrels per day from the previous week.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 3.7 million barrels to 289.7 million barrels on continuing emergency releases. Oil stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma, the Nymex delivery hub, rose by 1.2 million barrels to 22.4 million barrels.
Refineries ran at 97.4% of capacity, up from 97.2% the week before, with crude input to refineries virtually unchanged at 17.4 million barrels per day. The Journal survey had forecast that refinery runs would slip by one-tenth of a percentage point.
Gasoline inventories declined by 2.5 million barrels to 206.8 million barrels, about 6% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand rose by 355,000 barrels per day to 9 million barrels per day. Analysts had expected gasoline stocks to fall by 1.3 million barrels.
Distillate fuel stocks fell by 2.2 million barrels to 103.4 million barrels — more than the 1.1 million-barrel drop analysts had forecast — and were about 14% below the five-year average for the time of year.