US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased 2 million bbl during the week ended Apr. 22 compared with the previous week's average, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration’s Petroleum Status Report.
At 540.6 million bbl, crude inventories remain at historically high levels for this time of year.
Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal anticipated a 1.7 million-bbl rise.
Separately, the American Petroleum Institute’s own inventory report showed that crude supplies dropped 1.1 million bbl for the week.
EIA last week reported that inventories rose 2.1 million bbl during the week ended Apr. 15 (OGJ Online, Apr. 20, 2016).
Gasoline stocks up
Total motor gasoline inventories gained 1.6 million bbl last week, and are well above the upper limit of the average range. Finished gasoline inventories decreased while blending components inventories increased.
Distillate fuel inventories fell 1.7 million bbl, but are well above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.
Propane-propylene inventories rose 2.3 million bbl, and are above the upper limit of the average range. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased 5.2 million bbl.
US crude refinery inputs averaged 15.8 million b/d during the week ended Apr. 22, down 257,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 88.1% of their operable capacity.
Both gasoline and distillate fuel production decreased to average 9.5 million b/d and 4.6 million b/d, respectively.
US crude imports averaged 7.6 million b/d, down 637,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Over the last 4 weeks, crude imports averaged 7.7 million b/d, up 1.2% from the average of the same 4-week period last year.
Total motor gasoline imports, including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, averaged 898,000 b/d. Distillate fuel imports averaged 207,000 b/d.