Sam Fletcher
Senior Writer
HOUSTON, June 18 -- Energy prices were mixed Tuesday with no major new developments to drive markets in any particular direction.
However, the American Petroleum Institute reported early Wednesday that, for the first time ever, imports of oil and petroleum products accounted for 65% of all US demand in May. Imports for that month totaled 12.6 million b/d, up 5.4% since the start of this year and 9.1% more than during May 2002.
US imports
Crude imports alone totaled almost 10 million b/d in May, up 7.9% from year-ago levels. Imports of distillate fuel oil for diesel engines and heating jumped by 60% from a year ago, while imports of gasoline and blending components increased by 15% from the same period in 2002, compared with a 30% increase in April. Imports of kerosine jet fuel were up 56%, the highest level in 7 months, API reported.
API officials reported US demand for gasoline dipped by 0.2% from January though May and was down 1.5% from May 2002. US gasoline production fell 1.8% in May from year-ago levels, although refinery utilization averaged 95.3% last month, the highest rate in nearly 2 years. Crude and other inputs into distillation units were up 4.1% from last year.
"Earlier this year, retail gasoline prices were 45% higher than in May 2002, but even the steady price drop since January still left average pump prices 8% higher" last month, compared with last year, API officials said.
US crude production was down 2% in May from last year, with Alaska production slipping to 998,000 b/d. NGL production averaged 1.76 million b/d in May, down 9.1% from the same period last year, as escalating prices for natural gas discouraged processors from extracting of NGL from the gas stream (OGJ Online, June 17, 2003).
Total US inventories of crude and petroleum products increased by 36 million bbl during May—"the strongest single monthly increase in more than 2 years," API reported. Yet with crude imports running close to record levels, US crude inventories increased by just slightly more than 1 million bbl to 287.6 million bbl in May, nearly 12% less than at the same time last year.
Energy prices
The July contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes gained 11¢ to $31.07/bbl Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the August position advanced by 9¢ to $29.48/bbl. Heating oil for July delivery increased by 0.8¢ to 75.19¢/gal. Unleaded gasoline for the same month was up 0.1¢ to 85.02¢/gal.
The July natural gas contract inched up 0.6¢ to $5.712/Mcf Tuesday on NYMEX.
In London, the August contract for North Sea Brent oil was up 2¢ to $26.67/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. However, the July natural gas contract dipped by 0.5¢ to the equivalent of $2.91/Mcf on IPE.
The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of seven benchmark crudes lost 7¢ to $26.37/bbl Tuesday.
Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected]