In response to a sharp falloff in economic activity due to the coronavirus pandemic, US crude oil and gasoline inventories surged last week while gasoline demand suffered its biggest weekly drop ever.
In the week to March 27, crude inventories rose by 13.8 million barrels to 469.2 million barrels, the US EIA said. Since 2016, it was the biggest rise in one week. As refineries curb output and gasoline demand fall, analysts expect stocks to keep rising.
Fuel demand worldwide is expected to fall by 20 percent to 30 percent in April. As long as the virus is keeping planes grounded and motorists off the road, fuel demand remains impaired.
In the last week of March, refinery crude runs fell by 940,000 bpd. Compared with analysts’ expectations for a 1.9 million-barrel rise, US gasoline stocks rose by 7.5 million barrels to 246.8 million barrels.
Distillate stockpiles (diesel and heating oil) fell by 2.2 million barrels in the week. Because many Americans are having products delivered to homes, diesel demand has held up better than motor gasoline.
