Energy

Crude Oil Supply Rises, Prices Follow

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly petroleum status report this morning. U.S. commercial crude inventories increased by 2.8 million barrels last week, bringing the total U.S. commercial crude inventory to 363.1 million barrels, well above the upper limit of the five-year range for this time of the year.

Total gasoline inventories dropped by 1.7 million barrels last week but remain well above the upper limit of the five-year average range. Total motor gasoline supplied averaged about 8.3 million barrels a day over the past four weeks — a rise of 1.4% compared with the same period a year ago.

Distillate inventories rose by 500,000 barrels last week and remain in the lower half of the average range. Distillate product supplied averaged 3.3 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, down 8.2% when compared with the same period last year. Distillate production totaled 4.3 million barrels a day last week, down 300,000 barrels compared with the prior week and below the five-year average range for this time of year.

The American Petroleum Institute reported an inventory increase of 3.2 million barrels in crude supplies last week. Platts estimated a build of 2 million barrels in crude inventories for last week, with a build of 1.6 million barrels in gasoline supplies and a rise of 750,000 barrels in distillate supplies. Dow Jones estimated an increase of 1.7 million barrels in crude oil inventories and 900,000 barrels in gasoline inventories, as well as a drop of 100,000 barrels in distillates.

Crude prices were about slightly higher before the EIA report at $96.11 a barrel and rose to $96.99 following the report. Crude prices rose have hovered around $96 a barrel for the past week.

For the past week, crude imports averaged over 7.7 million barrels a day, a decrease of about 300,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Refineries were running at 83.6% of capacity, with daily input of 14.2 million barrels a day, about 895,000 barrels a day less than the previous week.

The United States Oil ETF (NYSEMKT: USO) is up 0.8% at $34.88 in a 52-week range of $29.02 to $42.30.

The United States Gasoline ETF (NYSEMKT: UGA) is up 0.8% at $60.29. The 52-week range is $45.13 to $62.13.

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