The American Petroleum Institute has reported that US oil production slid 5.6% to 5.902 million b/d in 1999, the largest annual decline in a decade. Much of the decline came in Alaska, where production averaged just over 1 million b/d, down 10.7% from 1998.
US crude and product inventories plunged 12.7% during the year, or more than 136 million bbl, to 939.2 million bbl by the end of 1999. API said Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' production cuts, the resulting higher crude prices, fewer imports, and tighter global markets caused stocks to drop. Crude oil inventories were down 9.3% at 293.3 million bbl in December 1999, compared to the same month in 1998.
Total US oil and products imports in December 1999 were 9.627 million b/d, down 6.2% from a year earlier. Imports' share of US deliveries, a key indicator of demand, fell to about 54% compared to 1998's record high of 56.6%.
API said the sources of imports shifted in 1999. Middle East oil imports grew 10.9%, while imports from Vene- zuela, Canada, and Mexico together dropped 7.9%. Crude imports from Iraq more than doubled to 712,000 b/d.
Deliveries
Growth in US gasoline demand slowed in 1999, but December deliveries were 8.606 million b/d, up 1.8% from a year earlier.
Kerosine jet fuel deliveries for 1999 increased 2.7%, about double the rates in 1998 and 1997, but they fell 5.3% in December.
Distillate fuel oil deliveries grew 2.7% in 1999 but rose 9.4% in December, year on year. And residual fuel oil deliveries fell 7.6% in 1999 and were off 5.1% in December.
Deliveries of other products, such as LPG, lubricants, asphalt, naphtha, and gas oil, increased 6.3% in 1999 and were up 10.1% in December, year on year.
Inventories fell in all major categories. Gasoline dropped 11.4% to 191.1 million bbl at the end of 1999, vs. a year earlier. Kerosine jet fuel stocks slid 8.9% to 40.7 million bbl, distillate 20.2% to 124.6 million bbl, and resid 20.3% to 35.8 million bbl.
API said refinery utilization was 92.6% in 1999, a 4-year low, while operable capacity increased 3.1% to 16.3 million b/d.
