U.S. Crude Oil Stockpiles Post Large Weekly Drop

Dow Jones10-16

U.S. crude oil inventories saw a large withdrawal last week as production and imports fell while refineries stepped up their capacity use, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 8.6 million barrels to 415.6 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 9, and were about 3% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Crude stocks were expected to have increased by 100,000 barrels, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.

Oil stored in the SPR was unchanged at 283 million barrels, and stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, rose by 1.9 million barrels to 26.6 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.7 million barrels a day, down by 300,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Hurricane Isaias led U.S. Gulf producers to evacuate platforms last week, with more than 70% of offshore oil output shut in by Friday. Most of the production had been restored by Wednesday of this week.

Crude oil imports were down by 791,000 barrels a day at 6 million barrels a day, and exports fell by 195,000 barrels a day to 4.6 million barrels a day.

Refinery capacity use rose to 93.5% from 92.7% the week before, with crude input to refineries up by 135,000 barrels a day at 16.6 million barrels a day. Refinery runs were forecast to have fallen by half a percentage point in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories increased by 3.5 million barrels to 208.3 million barrels, and were 4% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand was down by 362,000 barrels a day at 8.4 million barrels a day. Gasoline stocks were expected to have fallen by 900,000 barrels.

Distillate fuel stocks fell by 2.5 million barrels to 102.6 million barrels, compared with expectations of a 1.5 million barrel draw, and were 12% below the five-year average. Distillate demand rose by 673,000 barrels a day to 4.3 million barrels a day.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Oct. 9: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates        Refinery Use 
EIA data:          -8.6           3.5           -2.5                 0.8 
Forecast:           0.1          -0.9           -1.5                -0.5

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

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U.S. Crude Oil Stockpiles Post Large Weekly Drop

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