U.S. Crude-Oil And Fuel Inventories Decline Again
October 05 2022 - 11:18AM
Dow Jones News
By Dan Molinski
U.S. inventories of crude-oil and fuels declined
across-the-board for a second straight week last week, according to
data released Wednesday by the Energy Information
Administration.
Benchmark U.S. oil prices that were slightly lower before the
mostly-bullish report was released turned higher afterward. The
Nymex front-month crude contract for November delivery was recently
up 0.5% at $86.94 a barrel.
Commercial crude-oil stockpiles fell by 1.4 million barrels, to
429.2 million barrels, and are now about 3% below the five-year
average, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal
had predicted crude stockpiles would rise by 1.3 million barrels
from the prior week.
Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S.
stocks, increased by 273,000 barrels from the previous week to 26
million barrels, the EIA said in its weekly report.
U.S. crude-oil production was unchanged from the previous week
at 12 million barrels a day, according to the EIA.
Gasoline stockpiles fell by 4.7 million barrels, to 207.5
million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations for
inventories to decrease by just 1 million barrels from the previous
week.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel,
dropped by 3.4 million barrels to 110.9 million barrels, and are
now about 21% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts
had forecast distillates inventories would fall by 1.4 million
barrels from the previous week.
The refining capacity utilization rate rose by 0.7 percentage
points from the previous week to 91.3%. Analysts were forecasting a
0.4 percentage-point decline from the week prior.
U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Sept. 230:
Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use
EIA data: -1.4 -4.7 -3.4 +0.7
Forecast: +1.3 -1.0 -1.4 -0.4
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
October 05, 2022 11:03 ET (15:03 GMT)
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