The U.S Energy Administration reported on Wednesday that U.S crude oil inventories and distillate stocks declined last week, while gasoline stockpiles grow drastically. Crude inventories fell to 488.7 million barrels, showing a decline by 754,000 barrels in the week to November 20, while analysts expected in media polls showed an approximate rise of 127,000 barrels. On the other hand, gasoline stocks increased to 230.2 million barrels, or grew by 2.2 million barrels, compared to the forecasts for 614,000 barrels growth.
Chicago’s Price Futures Group’s senior analyst, Phil Flynn, said that the report is supportive, but not wildly compelling. If there’s any disappointment regarding the figures, it’s gasoline numbers, although it shouldn’t be a total surprise as more people prefer staying at home. Refiners supply of gasoline products over the past four weeks is down by 9% and decreased by 13% for the year so far. Demands are forecasted to be decreased further in the coming weeks as coronavirus infections numbers are still increasing throughout the country.
Data showed that distillate stockpiles, including heating oil and diesel, down to 142.6 million barrels or decreasing by 1.4 million barrels in the week, in line with the forecasted 1.6 million barrels reduction. At the overall performance, refining utilization rates accelerated another 1.3 percentage points, showing a 78.7% of total capacity.
