Surprising Increase in US Crude Oil Inventories: New York Weekly Report

2023-10-12 17:30:00
New York: US crude oil inventories jumped last week, surprising analysts, according to figures released Thursday by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), due to an increase in production and a drop in exports.During the week ending October 6, commercial crude reserves increased by 10.2 million barrels, while analysts were betting on a decline. Gasoline stocks fell by 1.3 million barrels, more than expected.

Crude prices, which were in the green before the publication of the report, remained so around 3:20 p.m. GMT but clearly slowed their rise.

The barrel of Brent BRENT Brent, or North Sea crude, is a variation of crude oil serving as a benchmark in Europe, listed on the InterContinentalExchange (ICE), a stock exchange specializing in energy trading. It became the first international standard for setting oil prices. from the North Sea, for delivery in December, took 1.19% to 86.81 dollars.

Its American equivalent, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI WTI West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also called Texas Light Sweet, is a variation of crude oil that serves as a standard in setting the price of crude and as a raw material for oil futures contracts with the Nymex (New York Mercantile Exchange). ), the stock exchange specializing in energy.), for delivery in November, rose 0.99% to $84.25.

The increase in crude stocks is explained in particular by an increase in production, 13.2 million barrels per day, or 300,000 more than last week. Imports increased significantly (+2 million barrels) while exports fell by almost as much (-1.9 million).

The capacity utilization rate of refineries has fallen to 85.7%, which also has a mechanical effect on the increase in stocks of crude, not yet refined.

Demand for refined products, however, remained strong at 19.66 million barrels per day compared to 19.15 million the week before.

On average over four weeks, the figure most used by analysts, refined products delivered to the American market reached an average of 20 million barrels per day (+0.1%).