The report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that total crude oil and petroleum products stocks dropped -2.05 mmb to 1227.54 mmb in the week ended December 21. Crude oil inventory slipped -0.05 mmb (consensus: -2.87 mmb) to 441.41 mmb. Inventories increased in ALL 5 PADDs. Meanwhile, Cushing stock added +0.8 mmb to 41.29 mmb. Utilization rate climbed higher, by -0.3% to 95.1% and crude production added +0.1 M bpd to 11.7M bpd for the week.
Concerning refined oil product inventories, gasoline inventory added +3 mmb to 233.11 mmb although demand gained +1.14% to 9.35M bpd. The market had anticipated a +0.03 mmb increase in stockpile. Production slipped -1.84% to 10.14M bpd while imports fell -14.45% to 0.51M bpd during the week. Distillate inventory steadied at 119.9 mmb. Demand declined -13.18% to 4.24M bpd. The market had anticipated a -0.53 mmb drop in inventory. Production climbed +0.95% higher 5.44M bpd while imports soared +46.76% to 0.2M bpd during the week.
Released after market close on Wednesday, the industry- sponsored API estimated that crude oil inventory soared +6.9 mmb during the week. For refined oil products, gasoline stockpile gained +3.7 mmb while distillate was down -0.6 mmb.
