U.S. Crude-Oil Stocks Fall, Products Rise in Week Ended Jan. 12
19 January 2024 - 4:01AM
Dow Jones News
By Anthony Harrup
U.S. crude-oil inventories fell more than expected last week,
while stocks of gasoline and diesel continued to rise, according to
data released by the Energy Information Administration.
Commercial crude-oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve fell by 2.5 million barrels to 429.9 million barrels in the
week ended Jan. 12, and were about 3% below the five-year average
for the time of year, the EIA said Thursday. Analysts surveyed by
The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall
by 900,000 barrels.
Storage in the SPR rose by 596,000 barrels to 355.6 million
barrels, the EIA said.
Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, fell by
2.1 million barrels to 32.1 million barrels.
Refineries reduced their capacity use to 92.6% from 92.9% the
week before. Expectations were for refinery runs to fall by 0.6
percentage point.
Crude futures were higher Thursday after the International
Energy Agency said it expects oil demand to grow by 1.2 million
barrels a day this year, up from 1.1 million barrels a day forecast
in its December report but less than the 1.5 million barrels-a-day
increase it sees for this year's oil supply. The Nymex crude
contract for February was up 1.3% at $73.53 a barrel and
international benchmark Brent was up 0.8% at $78.52 a barrel.
U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 3.1 million barrels last week to
248.1 million against expectations of a 2.5 million-barrel build in
the WSJ survey. Gasoline inventories are slightly above the
five-year average, the EIA said.
Distillate stocks, mostly diesel fuel, increased by 2.4 million
barrels to 134.8 million barrels and are around 3% below the
five-year average. Expectations were for a distillate stock build
of 600,000 barrels.
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Jan. 12:
Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use
EIA data: -2.5 3.1 2.4 -0.3
Forecast: -0.9 2.5 0.6 -0.6
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
January 18, 2024 11:46 ET (16:46 GMT)
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