Last week, US crude oil inventories rose while the one-week fuel demand posted the biggest fall since December due to the impact of coronavirus pandemic in energy demand. The data had not shown any impact from the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia yet.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), in the week to March 20, crude inventories rose by 1.6 million barrels to 455.4 million barrels. Analysts expected a 2.8 million barrel increase.
Refinery utilization rates jumped by 0.9% to 87.3% as refiners have been spending their gasoline and diesel fuel stocks to the lowest since December to anticipate the upcoming weeks of weak demand.
US gasoline inventory slumped by 1.5 million barrels to 239.3 million barrels, below analysts’ expectations for a 657,000 barrel fall. Distillate stockpiles, including diesel and heating oil, dropped by 679,000 barrels to 124.4 million barrels, contrasting with a 1.9 million barrel fall in the estimates.
Products supplied, a gauge on US demand, fell by 2.1 million bpd to 19.4 million bpd.
Motor gasoline product went down by 859,000 bpd, but still showed a 1.2% year-on-year increase for the four-week average. Jet fuel demand fell by 18% to 1.47 million bpd while distillate products supplied lost 5%.
Going forward, analysts estimated that the world would see how the lockdowns globally affect demand. Inventories are likely to keep increasing in the coming weeks.
