Total gasoline inventories decreased by 1.4 million barrels last week and are now below the lower half of the five-year average range. Total motor gasoline supplied (the EIA’s measure of consumption) averaged 9 million barrels a day for the past four weeks, down by 0.9% compared with the same period a year ago.
Distillate inventories decreased by 700,000 barrels last week and remain near the lower limit of the average range. Distillate product supplied averaged about 3.6 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, down by 8.3% when compared with the same period last year. Distillate production averaged 4.6 million barrels a day last week, about 100,000 barrels per day above the prior week’s production.
Tuesday evening, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that crude inventories fell by 640,000 barrels in the week ending October 31, together with a rise of 200,000 barrels in gasoline supplies and a similar increase of 200,000 barrels in distillate supplies. For the same period, analysts had estimated an increase of 2.2 million barrels in crude inventories.
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Before the EIA report, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading up about 0.8% at around $77.73 a barrel. The WTI price rose to around $78.00 immediately after the report was released.
For the past week, crude imports averaged over 6.7 million barrels a day, down about 426,000 barrels a day compared with the previous week. Refineries were running at 88.4% of capacity, with daily input of about 15.5 million barrels a day, about 400,000 barrels a day above the previous week’s average.
Refiners are closing out their turnarounds to producing winter grade fuels and refining runs are rising. The biggest impact on falling crude prices recently was the announced price cut for deliveries to the United States by the Saudis. The Saudis had indicated earlier that they would give up margins to maintain market share. By lowering their price to U.S. buyers, they increase pressure on U.S. producers to lower prices even more.
According to AAA, the current national average pump price per gallon of regular gasoline is $2.963, down from $3.023 a week ago and from $3.297 a month ago. Last year a gallon of regular cost $3.24 on average in the United States.
Here is a look at how share prices at three U.S. producers reacted to this latest report.
The United States Oil ETF (NYSEMKT: USO) traded up about 1.7%, at $29.78 in a 52-week range of $28.89 to $39.44.
The Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSEMKT: OIH) traded up about 2.6%, at $43.07 in a 52-week range of $40.98 to $58.01.
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