U.S. Crude Oil Stocks Fell 5.5 Million Barrels in Week Ended Dec. 29 -- Update
January 04 2024 - 11:37AM
Dow Jones News
By Anthony Harrup
U.S. crude oil inventories fell more than expected last week,
while stocks of gasoline and distillate fuels saw large increases
pointing to sluggish demand for products, according to data
released Thursday by the U.S. Energy Information
Administration.
Commercial crude-oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve fell by 5.5 million barrels to 431.1 million barrels in the
week ended Dec. 29, and were about 2% 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 2.7
million barrels.
Storage in the SPR rose by 1.1 million barrels to 354.4 million
barrels, the EIA said.
Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, increased
by 706,000 barrels to 34.7 million barrels as refineries increased
their capacity use to 93.5% from 93.3% the week before.
Expectations were for refinery runs to slip by a fifth of a
percentage point.
U.S. crude oil production eased to 13.2 million barrels a day
from a record 13.3 million barrels a day the week before, the EIA
said. Crude imports rose by 619,000 barrels a day to 6.9 million
barrels a day, while exports increased by nearly 1.4 million
barrels a day from the previous week to 5.3 million barrels a
day.
Crude futures gave up opening gains and were lower Thursday
afternoon, extending losses in the wake of the report showing more
than 10-million-barrel increases in stocks of gasoline and
distillate fuels.
"I think those large builds of gasoline and distillates are
taking precedence. Fuel demand is once again stalling and that's
putting pressure on the crude futures," said Dennis Kissler, senior
vice president at BOK Financial.
The Nymex crude contract for February was down 1.9% at $71.33 a
barrel and international benchmark Brent for March delivery was
down 1.9% at $76.78 a barrel.
Gasoline stockpiles rose by 10.9 million barrels to 237 million
barrels, against expectations of a 400,000-barrel build in the
Journal survey. Gasoline inventories were slightly above the
five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said.
Distillate stocks, mostly diesel fuel, increased by 10.1 million
barrels to 125.9 million barrels and were 6% below the five-year
average. Expectations were for a distillate stock build of 400,000
barrels.
Gasoline demand fell by 1.2 million barrels a day to just under
8 million barrels a day, and distillates demand was down by 1.3
million barrels a day to 2.7 million barrels a day, according to
the EIA.
"Normally we start getting some winter demand in January, that
still really hasn't showed up," Kissler said. "We're still seeing a
well-above-normal temperature cycle this winter, and that's also
hurting the price of crude."
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Dec. 15:
Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use
EIA data: -5.5 10.9 10.1 0.2
Forecast: -2.7 0.4 0.4 -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
January 04, 2024 12:22 ET (17:22 GMT)
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