US Petroleum Inventories, Imports Decline

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly petroleum status report this morning. US commercial crude inventories fell by 200,000 barrels last week, bringing the total US commercial crude inventory to 339.1 million barrels, around the upper limit of the five-year range.

Total gasoline inventories rose by 400,000 barrels last week and remain in the upper limit of the five-year average range. Over the last four weeks, gasoline supplied has declined by -4.6% compared to the same period last year. Total motor gasoline supplied averaged 8.1 million barrels/day for the four weeks.

For the past week, crude imports totaled just under 8.7 million barrels/day, down by 168,000 barrels/day from the previous week. Refineries were running at 84% of capacity, with daily input of nearly 14.7 million barrels/day, up 322,000 barrels/day from the previous week.

Higher import levels and the rise in gasoline supplied indicate demand is growing, but net imports of refined products continues to fall, indicating that refined products exports are increasing.

According to gasbuddy.com, US gasoline prices average $3.485/gallon today, compared with a pump price of $3.45 a week ago.