Fredericksburg Leader

GasBuddy issued the following announcement on Feb. 24

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly report today on the status of petroleum inventories in the United States. Here are some highlights:

CRUDE OIL INVENTORIES:

Crude oil inventories increased by 4.5 million barrels (MMbbl) to a total of 416.0 MMbbl. At 416.0 MMbbl, inventories are 47.0 MMbbl below last year (-10.2%) and are about 9% below the five-year average for this time of year. Inventories in Cushing, OK, the NYMEX delivery point, fell 2.0 million barrels to a total of 23.8 million barrels. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) decreased 2.4 million barrels from the prior week to 582.4 million barrels and stands 8.7% below the year ago level.

CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION:

Domestic crude oil production was unchanged at 11.6 million barrels per day, 1,900,000 bpd higher than the year ago period. While Alaska oil production fell 3,000 bpd to 458,000bpd, production in the Lower 48 was unchanged at 11.1 million barrels per day.

GASOLINE INVENTORIES:

Gasoline inventories decreased by 0.6 million barrels (MMbbl) to a total of 246.5 MMbbl. At 246.5 MMbbl, inventories are down 10.6 MMbbl, or 4.1% lower than a year ago and are 3% below the five-year average for this time of year.

Here’s how individual regions and their gasoline inventory fared:

East Coast (-0.9 MMbbl)

Midwest (+1.0 MMbbl)

Gulf Coast (+0.6 MMbbl)

Rockies (-0.0 MMbbl)

West Coast (-1.3 MMbbl)

It’s important to note which regions saw increases/decreases as this information likely drives prices up (in the case of falling inventories) or down (in the case of rising inventories).

DISTILLATE (DIESEL, HEATING OIL) INVENTORIES:

Distillate inventories decreased by 0.6 million barrels to a total of 119.7 MMbbl. At 119.7 MMbbl, inventories are down 33.0 MMbbl, or 21.6% lower vs. a year ago. Distillate inventories stand about 18% below the five-year average for this time of year.

IMPLIED GASOLINE DEMAND:

Gasoline supplied to the market amounted to 8.66 million barrels per day (MMbpd), or 87,000 bpd lower than the previous week. So far in 2022, implied demand (“products supplied”) is 8.4% higher versus 2021, per the EIA.

REFINERY OUTPUT/UTILIZATION:

Refinery utilization increased by 2.1 percentage points vs. last week’s numbers to reach 87.4%. Gasoline production increased to 9.3 million barrels per day while distillate fuel production increased to 4.7 million barrels per day last week.

Utilization rates for the last week were as follows:

East Coast: 90.8% (+12.3%)

Midwest: 96.0% (+3.6%)

Gulf Coast: 85.8% (+2.3%)

Rocky Mountains: 83.3% (-1.3%)

West Coast: 79.9% (-2.7%)

These percentages show how much of a region’s overall capacity was used to refine oil. It’s important to note these percentages, because the lower the utilization percent, the lower output — which has a direct impact on local gasoline prices. If refiners in your region have low output, you’re more likely to see gas prices rise.

OVERALL SUPPLY:

Total oil stocks in the United States are down by 125.6 MMbbl (-9.8%) versus a year ago and stand at 1.159 billion barrels (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve).

IMPORTS/EXPORTS:

The U.S. imported 6.83 MMbpd of crude oil per day last week, up by 1,038,000 bpd vs. the previous week, while crude oil exports rose by 415,000 bpd to 2.69 MMbpd. Total motor gasoline imports last week averaged 416,000 bpd. The U.S. also imported 416,000 bpd of distillate fuels. However, during the same timeframe, the U.S. exported 685,000 bpd of finished gasoline and 960,000 bpd of distillates. In total, U.S. companies exported 7.46 MMbpd of oil and petroleum products.

Before the report was released, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up $5.70 to $97.80 per barrel. Just after the report was released, oil was up $5.21 per barrel.

Original source can be found here.