The Energy Information Administration said US gasoline inventories in the week to April 24 dropped for the first time in five weeks. Meanwhile, the crude oil stockpiles last week boosted less than expected.
Crude inventories rose by 9 million barrels last week to 527.6 million barrels while the analysts’ expectation was a 10.6 million-barrel increase.
Stocks of crude are less than 2 percent from an all-time high of 535 million barrels reached in March 2017 and have increased for 14 consecutive weeks. Fuel demand worldwide is down roughly 30 percent, while US fuel demand has dropped 28 percent in the last four weeks.
From the record high in the week to 259.6 million barrels, US gasoline stocks fell by 3.7 million barrels. Over the past four weeks, overall finished motor gasoline demand is still down 44 percent from the year-ago period. With jet fuel demand down 62 percent, fuel demand overall has dropped by 28 percent in the last four weeks. In the last week, Crude stocks for WTI rose by 3.6 million barrels at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point.
Boosting refinery utilization rates to 69.6 percent of total capacity, refinery crude runs increased by 305,000 bpd. Distillate stockpiles rose more than the 3.6 million-barrel rise forecast, jumped to 5.1 million barrels.
