U.S. imports of crude oil and petroleum products reached a monthly record of 10,544,000 b/d in May, a 1% increase from last May, the American Petroleum Institute reported.
Crude imports were up 2.3% at 8,466,000 b/d, while product imports were down 3.9% at 2,078,000 b/d. Imports were 57.2% of demand.
Crude oil production averaged 6,330,000 b/d in May, off 0.6% from May last year, while NGL production was 1,845,000 b/d, up 0.7%. Refineries operated at 97.7% of capacity.
May oil prices were 30% lower than last year, with West Texas intermediate averaging less than $15/bbl-the lowest monthly level since 1994. As a result, said API, the number of rigs drilling oil prospects was 272, the lowest monthly level for at least 10 years.
Retail gasoline prices averaged about 2.5¢/gal more in May than in April but fell about 12% from a year ago. The U.S. average for regular conventional gasoline was $1.04/gal.
May products deliveries to the U.S. market were 18,444,000 b/d, up 1.1% from last year.
So far this year, gasoline deliveries are up 1.9%. May gasoline deliveries of 8,144,000 b/d were up only marginally compared with 1 year ago-0.2%.
Distillate deliveries averaged 3,331,000 b/d, up 2.8%, while kerosine/jet fuel deliveries were 1,481,000 b/d, off 3.4%. Residual oil deliveries rose for the third straight month, averaging 904,000 b/d, up 23.2%. Electric utilities switching from natural gas to lower-priced oil is a likely cause, said API.
Stocks of crude oil rose by 4 million bbl, or 6%, during the month, to reach about 347 million bbl, the highest level for any month in almost 5 years.
Gasoline stocks were up 7.5% at 217,200,000 bbl. Stocks of distillate were up 19.8% to 129,900,000 bbl-a 17-year high for May.
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