DOE Data Shows Refineries Hanging Tough (OIH, USO, VLO, SUN, HES)

The weekly Department of Energy inventories data came out this morning.  There seems to be good news for those looking for price stability as crude oil inventories went up and capacity rates at the refining level remained rather high.  Gasoline and distillates posted a drop, which was more used finished products than had been expected in a news flow that is heavily burdened with the worst oil spill of most of our lives.  We are watching the key ETFs of Oil Services HOLDRs (NYSE: OIH) and the United States Oil (NYSE: USO) as the ones to watch, but with the refineries of Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO), Sunoco Inc. (NYSE: SUN), and Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) being looked at front and center.

US Refineries ran At 87.8%, right in-line with a Dow Jones target of 87.80 and down only 0.1% from the 87.9% of a week ago.

Crude Oil supply grew by 2.46 million barrels to 365.146 million barrels, and Dow Jones was looking for a mere gain of 100,000 barrels and we had expected a +/- 200,000 range.

Gasoline inventory was also a surprise draw of 203,000 barrels down to 221.63 million barrels, when Dow Jones was calling for 0.1% and when we had been told to look for a build of even more than that as inventories build going into a very high-demand week of gasoline use.

Distillate Stocks fell by 267,000 barrels to 152.543 million barrels, but the Dow Jones estimate was relatively a flat call.

NYMEX WTI Crude is now up $2.60 on the day and trading at $71.35 per barrel.  Oil Services HOLDRs (NYSE: OIH) is up almost 2% at $102.45 and the United States Oil (NYSE: USO) is up 2.5% at $32.65.

As far as the refineries, Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is up 2.5% at $17.81, Sunoco Inc. (NYSE: SUN) is up 2.3% at $28.74, and Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) is up only 0.98% at $42.74.

JON C. OGG