Total gasoline inventories decreased by 4 million barrels last week and are now near the top of the five-year average range. Total motor gasoline supplied (the EIA’s measure of consumption) averaged 8.8 million barrels a day for the past four weeks, down by 0.2% compared with the same period a year ago.
Distillate inventories increased by 1 million barrels last week, but they remain in the lower half of the average range. Distillate product supplied averaged about 3.7 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, down by 0.6% when compared with the same period last year. Distillate production averaged 4.6 million barrels a day last week, roughly flat with the prior week’s production.
Tuesday evening, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that crude inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels in the week ending October 17, together with a decline of 532,000 barrels in gasoline supplies and a decline of 822,000 barrels in distillate supplies. For the same period, analysts at Platts had estimated an increase of 2.5 million barrels in crude inventories, a drop of 1.7 million barrels in the gasoline supply and a decline of 1.5 million barrels in distillate inventories.
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Before the EIA report, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading up fractionally at around $82.50 a barrel. The price slipped to around $81.80 immediately after the report was released.
For the past week, crude imports averaged over 7.5 million barrels a day, down about 263,000 barrels a day compared with the previous week. Refineries were running at 86.7% of capacity, with daily input of about 15.2 million barrels a day, about 100,000 barrels a day below the previous week’s average.
WTI crude prices had been gaining strength the past few days, after bouncing of lows below $79 a barrel.
According to AAA, the current national average pump price per gallon of regular gasoline is $3.086, down from $3.177 a week ago and $3.338 a month ago. Last year a gallon of regular cost $3.344 on average in the United States.
Here’s a look at how share prices for two major oil exchange traded funds reacted to this latest report.
The United States Oil ETF (NYSEMKT: USO) traded down about 0.3%, at $31.23 in a 52-week range of $30.20 to $39.44.
The Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSEMKT: OIH) traded up fractionally, at $45.53 in a 52-week range of $40.98 to $58.01.
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