U.S. Crude-Oil Stocks Fall, Products Rise in Week Ended Jan. 12 -- Update
19 January 2024 - 5:05AM
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 Thursday 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. 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.
U.S. crude-oil production rose by 100,000 barrels a day to 13.3
million barrels a day, while imports were up 1.2 million barrels a
day at 7.42 million barrels a day and exports increased by 1.7
million barrels a day to little over 5 million barrels a day, the
EIA said.
Crude futures extended gains following the inventories report,
with West Texas Intermediate for February delivery up 2.1% at
$74.10 a barrel, and the March contract for international benchmark
Brent up 1.5% at $79.07 a barrel.
Earlier Thursday, the International Energy Agency said it
expects global 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 drop in crude-oil inventories after the American Petroleum
Institute on Wednesday had reported a build for last week "caught
traders off balance," said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president at
BOK Financial. The draw on crude stocks at Cushing was positive for
oil, while builds in product inventories are expected at this time
of year and "not really that negative to the market," he added.
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 Journal survey. Gasoline inventories are slightly above the
five-year average, the EIA said.
Gasoline production fell by 291,000 barrels a day to 9.4 million
barrels a day, while gasoline demand was steady at 8.3 million
barrels a day.
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. Demand for distillate fuels rose by 213,000
barrels a day to 3.6 million barrels a day, while production fell
by 265,000 barrels a day to 4.9 million barrels a day.
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 12:50 ET (17:50 GMT)
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