US commercial crude inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), fell by 2.2 million barrels from the week ended September 15 to the week ended September 22. September, according to the latest weekly report on the state of oil from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). .
The country’s crude oil inventories, excluding the SPR, stood at 416.3 million barrels on September 22, 418.5 million barrels on September 15 and 430.6 million barrels on September 23. 2022, the report revealed.
Total crude oil in the SPR was 351.0 million barrels on September 22, 351.2 million barrels on September 15 and 422.6 million barrels on September 23, 2022, the report noted .
“At 416.3 million barrels, US crude inventories are about four percent below the five-year average for this time of year,” the EIA noted in the report
Total motor gasoline inventories rose by 1.0 million barrels last week and are about two percent below the five-year average for this time of year, the report said .
“Finished gasoline inventories declined, while blending component inventories increased last week,” the report said.
“Distillate fuel inventories rose 0.4 million barrels last week and are about 13 percent below the five-year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories were up 0.7 million barrels from last week and are 19 percent above the five-year average for this time of year,” the report added.
“Total commercial oil inventories decreased by 1.5 million barrels last week,” the report continued.
Inflows from U.S. crude refineries averaged 16.1 million barrels per day in the week ended Sept. 22, which was 239,000 barrels per day less than the previous week’s average, it said. point to the report.
“Refineries operated at 89.5 percent of their operating capacity last week,” the report said.
“Gasoline production declined last week, averaging 9.1 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production increased last week, averaging 4.9 million barrels per day,” he add.
US crude imports were said to have averaged 7.2 million barrels per day last week, which the EIA report noted was an increase of 711,000 barrels per day from the previous week
“Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 7.0 million barrels per day, up 8.2 percent from the same four-week period last year,” said the EIA in the report.
“Total motor gasoline imports (including finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 710,000 barrels per day, and distillate fuel imports averaged 114,000 barrels per day “, added.
Total supplies over the past four weeks averaged 20.6 million barrels per day, the report said, noting that this was up 4.2 percent from the same period last year. .
“Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplies averaged 8.7 million barrels per day, up 0.8 percent from the same period last year,” the report said .
“Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.9 million barrels per day over the past four weeks, up 8.6 percent from the same period last year. Fuel product for aircraft supplied increased by 9.9 percent compared to the same four-week period last year,” he added.
The price of West Texas Intermediate crude was $90.00 a barrel on September 22, down $0.83 from the previous week’s price but $10.93 higher than a year ago, noted the ‘EIA in the report. At the time of writing, the price of WTI crude is trading at $93.82 per barrel.
The national average retail price for regular gasoline was $3.837 per gallon on Sept. 25, down $0.041 from last week but up $0.126 from the price a year ago, the report said, adding that the national average retail price of diesel fell to $4.586 per gallon, $0.047 less than a week ago and $0.303 less than last year’s price.
As of Sept. 28, the average price of regular gasoline in the US is $3.835 per gallon, while the average price of diesel in the country is $4.567 per gallon, according to the website AAA Gas Prices.
In a report sent to Rigzone on Monday afternoon, ahead of the release of the EIA’s latest weekly oil state report, Macquarie strategists revealed they forecast US crude inventories to fall 6.5 million barrels for the week ending September 22.
“This follows a draw of 2.1 million barrels for the week ended September 15, with the total US crude backlog again being slightly tighter than we had anticipated,” strategists said in the report
In that report, strategists also forecast a “small increase in Strategic Petroleum Reserve inventory for the week (+0.3 million barrels).”
To contact the author, please send an email andreas.exarcheas@rigzone.com
