The report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that total crude oil and petroleum products (ex. SPR) stocks gained +1.32 mmb to 1283 mmb in the week ended March 5. Crude oil inventory soared +13.8 mmb (consensus: +3 mmb,) to 498.4 mmb. The increase remained large although it’s smaller than last month’s 21.6 mmb jump. Stockpile increased in 2 out of 5 PADDs. PADD 3 (Gulf Coast) alone saw stock-build of +15.2 mmb. Cushing stock gained +0.53 mmb to 48.8 mmb. Utilization rate rose 13 percentage point to 69% while crude production gained +0.9M bpd to 10.9M bpd for the week. Crude oil imports added +0.64M bpd to 5.66M bpd in the week.
Concerning refined oil product inventories, gasoline inventory declined -11.87 mmb to 231.6 mmb as demand rose +7.09% to 8.73M bpd. The market had anticipated a -3.46 mmb decrease in stockpile. Production rose +8.5% to 9.01M bpd while imports dropped -4.6% to 0.58M bpd during the week. Distillate stockpile fell -5.5 mmb to 137.49 mmb. The market had anticipated a -3.53 mmb decrease. Demand rallied +18.5% to 4.49M bpd. Production soared +27.8% to 3.7 mmb while imports jumped +47% to 0.47M bpd during the week.
A day earlier, the industry-sponsored API estimated that crude oil inventory gained +12.79 mmb. Gasoline stockpile declined -8.5 mmb, while that for distillate dropped -4.8 mmb.
