US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, declined 200,000 bbl during the week ended Mar. 10 compared with the previous week’s total, according to according to the US Energy Information Administration’s Petroleum Status Report.
The slight drop broke a 9-week streak of increases that propelled inventory levels to record highs (OGJ Online, Mar. 8, 2017). At 528.2 million bbl, US crude inventories are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.
The American Petroleum Institute estimated a 531,000-bbl decline in US crude supplies for the week.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased 3.1 million bbl last week but are in the upper half of the average range. Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories dropped.
Distillate fuel inventories fell 4.2 million bbl but are near the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Propane-propylene inventories fell 800,000 bbl but are in the middle of the average range. Total commercial petroleum inventories lost 7.8 million bbl.
US crude oil refinery inputs during the week ended Mar. 10 averaged 15.5 million b/d, down 20,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 85.1% of their operable capacity.
Both gasoline production and distillate fuel production decreased to 9.5 million b/d and 4.7 million b/d, respectively.
US crude oil imports averaged 7.4 million b/d, down 745,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Over the last 4 weeks, crude imports averaged 7.6 million b/d, down 4.4% from the same 4-week period last year.
Total motor gasoline imports, including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, averaged 572,000 b/d. Distillate fuel imports averaged 79,000 b/d last week.
