U.S. Crude Oil, Gasoline Stocks Rise as Refineries Ramp Up Runs
21 December 2023 - 4:03AM
Dow Jones News
By Anthony Harrup
U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories rose last week as
refineries increased their capacity use and U.S. crude output
reached a record level, according to data released Wednesday by the
U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Commercial crude-oil stockpiles excluding the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve rose by 2.9 million barrels, to 443.7 million
barrels, in the week ended Dec. 15, and were about 1% below the
five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Analysts
surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles
would decrease by 2.5 million barrels.
Storage in the SPR rose by 629,000 barrels, to 352.5 million
barrels.
Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, rose by
1.7 million barrels, to 32.5 million barrels. U.S. crude oil
production was a record 13.3 million barrels a day, 200,000
barrels-a-day higher than the previous week and 1.2 million barrels
a day more than a year earlier, the EIA said.
Crude futures were gaining Wednesday, reaching their highest
level since the beginning of December as concerns about Houthi
rebel attacks on shipping in the Red Sea raises concerns about
transport delays and higher costs.
The Nymex crude contract for February was up 1.6%, at $75.10 a
barrel, and February Brent was 1.5% higher, at $80.43.
Gasoline stockpiles rose by 2.7 million barrels, to 226.7
million barrels, against expectations of a 700,000-barrel rise in
the Journal survey. Gasoline inventories are about 2% below their
five-year average, the EIA said.
While gasoline production rose to 10 million barrels a day from
9.5 million the week before, demand measured by product supplied
fell by 105,000 barrels a day, to 8.8 million barrels a day,
according to the EIA.
Distillate stocks, mostly diesel fuel, increased by 1.5 million
barrels, to 115 million barrels, and were 10% below the five-year
average. Expectations were for a 700,000-barrel build.
The refining capacity utilization rate rose by 2.2 percentage
points, to 92.4%, above the 90.9% rate a year earlier. Expectations
were for refinery runs to increase by 0.2 percentage point, to
90.4%.
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Dec. 15:
Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use
EIA data: 2.9 2.7 1.5 2.2
Forecast: -2.5 0.7 0.7 0.2
Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of
refinery use, which is in percentage points.
Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 20, 2023 11:48 ET (16:48 GMT)
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