The report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that total crude oil and petroleum products (ex. SPR) stocks surged +7.22 mmb to 1229.13 mmb in the week ended March 29. Crude oil inventory surprisingly soared +7.24 mmb to 449.52 mmb (consensus: -0.43 mmb). Inventories rose in 3 out of 5 PADDs with PADD 3 (Gulf Coast) seen a +8.73 mmb increase. Meanwhile, Cushing stock added +0.2 mmb to 47.13 mmb. Utilization rate dropped -0.2% to 86.4% while crude production gained +0.1M bpd to a fresh record high of 12.2M bpd for the week. US producers ramped up production as crude oil price has strengthened for 4 consecutive weeks. Crude oil imports increased +0.22M bpd to 6.76M bpd in the prior week.
Concerning refined oil product inventories, gasoline inventory declined -1.78 mmb to 236.84 mmb as demand added +0.08% to 9.13M bpd. The market had anticipated a -1.54 mmb drop in stockpile. Production gained +1.62% to 9.81 bpd while imports rose +8.43% to 0.75M bpd during the week. Distillate inventory fell -2 mmb to 128.17 mmb. Demand dropped -1.42% to 4.16M bpd. The market had anticipated a -0.51 mmb decline in inventory. Imports plunged -28% to 0.14M bpd while production was down -1.12%to 4.87M bpd during the week.
Released after market close on Wednesday, the industry- sponsored API estimated that crude oil inventory increased +3 mmb during the week. For refined oil products, gasoline stockpile drew -2.6 mmb while distillate decreased -1.9 mmb.
