Total gasoline inventories decreased by 2.3 million barrels last week and remain in the middle of the five-year average range. Total motor gasoline supplied (the EIA’s measure of consumption) averaged about 9.1 million barrels a day for the past four weeks, down by 0.7% compared with the same period a year ago.
Distillate inventories increased by 600,000 barrels last week and remain below the lower limit of the average range. Distillate product supplied averaged 3.9 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, up by 5.1% when compared with the same period last year. Distillate production averaged 5.1 million barrels a day last week, about 200,000 barrels higher than the prior week’s production.
Wednesday evening, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that crude inventories fell by 545,000 barrels in the week ending August 29, together with a rise of 400,000 barrels in gasoline supplies and an increase of 400,000 barrels in distillate supplies. For the same period, analysts surveyed by Platts estimated a decrease of 2 million barrels in crude inventories, a decrease of 1.6 million barrels in gasoline inventories and a drop of 1.2 million barrels in distillate inventories.
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Before the EIA report, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading down at around $94.93 a barrel, about 0.6% below Wednesday’s closing price of $95.07. The WTI price slipped to around $94.90 a barrel shortly after the report was released.
For the past week, crude imports averaged more than 7.7 million barrels a day, up by about 42,000 barrels a day over the previous week. Refineries were running at 93.3% of capacity, with daily input of about 16.4 million barrels a day, about 114,000 barrels a day below the previous week’s average.
The big drawdown in gasoline stocks was likely due in part to the Labor Day holiday weekend. Now that the summer driving season is behind us pump prices should continue to drop. This is not particularly good news for producers because it gives refiners a firmer grip on the price of a barrel of crude.
According to AAA, the current national average pump price per gallon of regular gasoline is $3.432, down from $3.434 a week ago and from $3.50 a month ago. Last year a gallon of regular cost $3.589 on average in the United States.
Here is a look at how share prices at three U.S. producers are reacting to the latest report.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) traded up about 0.2%, at $99.30 in a 52-week range of $84.79 to $104.76.
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded up about 0.2%, at $128.15 in a 52-week range of $109.27 to $135.10.
Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR) traded up about 1% to $161.50, after posting a new 52-week high of $161.82 earlier in the morning. The stock’s 52-week low is $95.33. Continental is the largest producer in the Bakken shale play and reported softer than expected results Thursday morning.
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