Crude Inventories Mixed For Holiday Weekend Demand (USO, OIL)

The weekly oil inventories data came out of the U.S. Department of Energy at 10:30 AM EST this morning.  Crude Oil was already much higher on worries that draw-downs were taking their toll on supply.  At 10:21 NYMEX WTI Crude was trading up $1.86 per barrel at at $71.75 and the United States Oil (NYSE: USO) was up 2% at $38.80.  The iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (OIL) was up 2.3% at $25.60.  The data came out as follows:

• Weekly inventories of crude came in at -3.7 million barrels to 350.2 million barrels; estimates were close to -2.1 million barrels.
• Weekly inventories of gasoline came in at +2.3 million barrels to 211.2 million barrels; estimates were close to 2 million barrels.
• Weekly inventories of distillates came in at +2.89 million barrels to 155 million barrels; estimates were about +1.7 million.
• US Refineries also ran at 96.99% capacity, down from 87.05% last week.

This drop in crude but gain in gasoline may be easy to explain. This was the week ahead of one of the busiest driving weeks of the year.  It seems that much of the draw-down from crude was added up in the gains in gasoline.  We have discussed this notion ahead of time with energy traders, and the issue of this being the sole issue is one that is easy to debate.

We now have NYMEX WTI Crude is now listed as being $1.13 at $71.02 and the United States Oil (NYSE: USO) is up 1.3% at $38.40.  The iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (OIL) is now up 1.3% at $25.36.

Jon C. Ogg
July 1, 2009