Crude Oil Price Hammered by Jump in Gasoline Stockpiles

Total gasoline inventories increased by 5.3 million barrels last week, and they are now well above the upper limit of the five-year average range. Total motor gasoline supplied (the EIA’s measure of consumption) averaged about 9.2 million barrels a day for the past four weeks, up by 4.1% compared with the same period a year ago.

Distillate inventories decreased by 200,000 barrels last week and have moved into the lower half of the average range. Distillate product supplied averaged about 3.9 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, up by 2.9% when compared with the same period of last year. Distillate production averaged 5.2 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 1.9 million barrels in the week ending December 12. The trade group also said gasoline stockpiles rose by 2.8 million barrels and distillate inventories fell by a million barrels. For the same period, analysts had estimated a decrease of 1.9 million barrels in crude inventories, an increase of 2 million barrels in gasoline stocks and a rise of a million barrels in distillate inventories.

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Before the EIA report, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for January delivery was trading down about 0.8% at around $55.50 a barrel Wednesday morning. The WTI price tumbled further to around $55.00 (down about 2% for the day) immediately after the report was released.

For the past week, crude imports averaged 7.1 million barrels a day, down by 564,000 barrels a day compared with the previous week. Refineries were running at 93.5% of capacity, with daily input of about 16.3 million barrels a day, about 326,000 barrels a day below the previous week’s average.

The inventory declines for both crude and distillates reflect an essentially flat week for inventories. The second consecutive sharp jump in gasoline supplies, however, could indicate not only that U.S. demand is continuing to fall, but that overseas demand for U.S. refined products is cooling off as well.

According to AAA, the current national average pump price per gallon of regular gasoline is $2.505, down from $2.639 a week ago and from $2.885 a month ago. Last year a gallon of regular cost $3.222 on average in the United States.

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Here is a look at how share prices for two exchange traded funds reacted to this latest report.

The United States Oil ETF (NYSEMKT: USO) traded down about 0.7% Wednesday, at $21.15 in a 52-week range of $20.53 to $39.44.

The Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSEMKT: OIH) traded up nearly 3.5%, at $35.64 in a 52-week range of $33.54 to $58.01.