The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly petroleum status report Wednesday morning. U.S. commercial crude inventories increased by 1.4 million barrels last week, maintaining a total U.S. commercial crude inventory of 363.8 million barrels and remaining in the middle of the five-year range for this time of the year.
Total gasoline inventories decreased by 1.6 million barrels last week and remain in the upper half of the five-year average range. Total motor gasoline supplied (the EIA’s measure of consumption) averaged more than 8.3 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, down about 1.5% from the same period a year ago.
Distillate inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels last week but remain below the lower limit of the average range. Distillate product supplied averaged more than 3.6 million barrels a day over the past four weeks. That was down 4.3% when compared with the same period last year. Distillate production totaled 4.6 million barrels a day last week, roughly flat with the prior week.
Tuesday evening, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that crude inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels in the week ending February 28, together with a drop of 1.2 million barrels in gasoline supplies and a decrease of 270,000 barrels in distillate supplies. For the same period, Platts estimated a rise of 1.5 million barrels in crude inventories, a decline of 1.5 million barrels in gasoline inventories and a drop of 1.5 million barrels in distillate inventories.
API also noted that crude inventories held at the main U.S. pricing hub at Cushing, Okla., dropped 2.6 million barrels in the past week. Crude prices closed at $103.33 on Tuesday and were trading down about 0.4% before the EIA report at around $102.73 a barrel. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) price fell slightly to around $102.58 shortly after the report was released. The price differential between WTI and Brent has dropped to below $6 a barrel, the lowest spread level since October.
For the past week, crude imports averaged more than 7.1 million barrels a day, up about 75,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Refineries were running at 87.4% of capacity, with daily input of 15.2 million barrels a day, about 100,000 barrels less than the previous week’s total.
According to AAA, the current average pump price per gallon of regular gasoline is $3.464, up from $3.432 a week ago and $3.279 a month ago. Last year a gallon of regular cost $3.737 on average in the United States. Wednesday was the 26th consecutive day that the price of a gallon of gas has risen.
Want to Retire Early? Start Here (Sponsor)
Want retirement to come a few years earlier than you’d planned? Or are you ready to retire now, but want an extra set of eyes on your finances?
Now you can speak with up to 3 financial experts in your area for FREE. By simply clicking here you can begin to match with financial professionals who can help you build your plan to retire early. And the best part? The first conversation with them is free.
Click here to match with up to 3 financial pros who would be excited to help you make financial decisions.
Have questions about retirement or personal finance? Email us at [email protected]!
By emailing your questions to 24/7 Wall St., you agree to have them published anonymously on a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.
By submitting your story, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
