The Commodities Feed: US crude inventory build continues | articles
The EIA’s weekly US inventory report was mixed yesterday. US commercial crude oil inventories (excluding SPR) increased by 3.5MMbbls for the week ended on 16 February. The market was anticipating an increase of around 4MMbbls, while API reported a decline of 7.2MMbbls. When factoring in the SPR releases, the build was even higher with total US crude oil inventories increasing by around 4.3MMbbls. Total US commercial crude oil stocks now stand at 443MMbbls, still around 2% below the five-year average. Meanwhile, oil inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma increased by 0.74MMbbls to 29.5MMbbls. Crude oil exports from the US increased by 0.6MMbbls/d to around 5MMbbls/d while imports increased by 0.2MMbbls/d to around 6.7MMbbls/d.
As for refined product inventories, gasoline inventories fell by 0.3MMbbls, against a forecast for a drawdown of 2.9MMbbls. Distillate stockpiles fell by 4MMbbls last week, higher than the expectations for a decline of 1.5MMbbls. Meanwhile, refineries operated at 80.6% of their capacity, unchanged from the previous week, but 5.3% lower than the same period last year.
The latest data from Insights Global shows that refined product inventories in the ARA region decreased by 29kt over the last week to 5.7mt. The decline was predominantly driven by gasoline stocks, which fell by 42kt to 1.2mt. Meanwhile, weekly gasoil stocks reported a decline of 24kt over the reporting week to 1.93mt. However, gasoil stocks in the region still remain well below the five-year average for this time of the year. Elsewhere, data from Singapore shows that total refined product inventories in the country increased by 3.9MMbbls (+9.3% week-on-week) to 46.5MMbbls, the highest since the week ending on 19 April 2023.
For natural gas, the EIA reported an inventory withdrawal of 60Bcf for the last week, largely in line with the market expectations of around 59Bcf withdrawals. The pace of inventory withdrawal remains significantly below the seasonal average of around 1668Bcf due to warmer weather and ample supplies. Natural gas production for the week softened marginally for the week while demand improved due to slightly colder weather compared to the previous week. With the withdrawal season approaching an end, the natural gas stocks remain comfortably higher than the 5Y average for this time of the year.
