U.S. Oil Inventories Rise But Gasoline Stockpiles Drop
11 August 2022 - 1:23AM
Dow Jones News
By Dan Molinski
U.S. crude-oil inventories rose sharply last week, but gasoline
stockpiles fell by the most in 10 months, according to data
released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.
Benchmark U.S. oil prices that were sharply lower before the
mixed-to-bearish report reduced those declines afterward. The Nymex
front-month crude contract for September delivery was recently down
2.1%, at $88.56 a barrel.
Crude-oil stockpiles jumped by 5.5 million barrels, to 432
million barrels, and are now about 5% below the five-year average,
the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had
predicted crude stockpiles would rise by 200,000 barrels from the
prior week.
Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S.
stocks, increased by 723,000 barrels from the previous week, to
25.2 million barrels, the EIA said in its weekly report.
U.S. crude-oil production rose by 100,000 barrels a day, to 12.2
million barrels a day, the highest level since April 2020,
according to the EIA.
Gasoline stockpiles dropped by 5 million barrels, to 220.3
million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations for
inventories to decrease by just 500,000 barrels from the previous
week.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel,
rose by 2.2 million barrels, to 111.5 million barrels, and are now
about 24% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts were
forecasting distillates inventories would fall by 500,000 barrels
from the previous week.
The refining capacity utilization rate exploded higher, rising
by 3.3 percentage points from the previous week, to 94.3%, which
compares with analysts' forecasts for just a 0.5 percentage-point
increase.
U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Aug. 5:
Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use
EIA data: +5.5 -5.0 +2.2 +3.3
Forecast: +0.2 -0.5 -0.5 +0.5
Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.
Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 10, 2022 11:08 ET (15:08 GMT)
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