US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, dropped 900,000 bbl for the second straight week during the week ended June 17, according to the latest Petroleum Status Report from the US Energy Information Administration (OGJ Online, June 15, 2016).
At 530.6 million bbl, crude inventories remain at historically high levels for this time of year. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal expected a drop of 1.6 million bbl.
Total motor gasoline inventories rose 600,000 bbl, and are well above the upper limit of the average range. Finished gasoline inventories increased while blending components inventories decreased last week.
Distillate fuel inventories gained 200,000 bbl, and are well above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Propane-propylene inventories rose 1.2 million bbl, and are near the upper limit of the average range. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased 5.2 million bbl.
US crude refinery inputs during the week ended June 17 averaged 16.5 million b/d, up 188,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 91.3% of their operable capacity.
Gasoline production increased to 10.3 million b/d, while distillate fuel production decreased to 5 million b/d.
US crude oil imports last week averaged 8.4 million b/d, up 817,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Over the last 4 weeks, crude imports averaged 7.9 million b/d, an increase of 13.6% from the same 4-week period last year.
Total motor gasoline imports, including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, averaged 876,000 b/d. Distillate fuel imports averaged 146,000 b/d.
