The report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that total crude oil and petroleum products (ex. SPR) stocks slumped -15.05 mmb to 1298.58 mmb in the week ended February 12. Crude oil inventory sank -7.26 mmb (consensus: -2.43 mmb) to 461.76 mmb. Stockpile decreased in 3 out of 5 PADDs. PADD 2 (Midwest) alone saw -5.09 mmb decline in stockpile. Cushing stock fell -3.03 mmb to 45.02 mmb. Utilization rate added +0.1 percentage point to 83.1% while crude production slipped -0.2M bpd to 10.8M bpd for the week. Crude oil imports gained +0.04M bpd to 5.9M bpd in the week. Extreme weather in Texas had hampered oil output. This could lead to another week of sharp fall in inventory and rally in oil prices.
Concerning refined oil product inventories, gasoline inventory increased +0.67 mmb to 257.08 mmb although demand jumped +7% to 8.41M bpd. The market had anticipated a +1.4 mmb increase in stockpile. Production gained +4.33% to 9.03M bpd while imports added +1.98% to 0.67M bpd during the week. Distillate stockpile dropped -3.42 mmb to 157.68 mmb. The market had anticipated a -1.57 mmb decrease. Demand increased +3.39% to 4.45M bpd. Production dropped -1.85% to 4.57 mmb while imports gained +1.69% to 0.36M bpd during the week.
A day earlier, the industry-sponsored API estimated that crude oil inventory fell -5.8 mmb. Gasoline stockpile rose +3.9 mmb, while that for distillate dropped -3.5 mmb.
