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Informist, Thursday, Sep 19, 2024

MUMBAI – Crude oil inventories in the US, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell 1.6 mln barrels from the previous week to 417.5 mln bbl in the week ended Friday, the US Energy Information Administration said in a report late on Wednesday. Analysts at Dow Jones had expected inventories to fall by 1 mln bbl. US crude oil stocks are about 4% below the five-year average for this time of the year, the report said.

Petrol stocks in the US increased 100,000 bbl to 221.6 mln bbl during the week, while analysts at Dow Jones had expected a rise of 600,000 bbl from the previous week. US petrol stocks are slightly below the five-year average for this time of the year, the report said. Distillate fuel inventories also rose 100,000 bbl last week to 125.1 mln bbl in the week ended Friday. Analysts had expected distillate stocks to rise 300,000 bbl during the reporting week. 

Refinery utilisation fell to 92.1% in the week from 92.8% in the previous week, the report said. Crude oil output in the US, the largest producer of the commodity, fell 100,000 bbl per day from the previous week to 13.2 mln bpd.

At 1242 IST, the most-active October contract of West Texas Intermediate crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange was at $71.37 per bbl, up 0.7% from the previous close. Prices were supported as the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in more than four years late on Wednesday, and as oil inventories declined in the US. 

US Crude oil imports averaged 6.32 mln bpd, down 545,000 bpd from the previous week, the report said. Crude oil imports over the last four weeks averaged about 6.39 mln bpd, down 7.1% from the corresponding period last year.

The biggest rise in crude oil imports by the US was from Brazil at 306,000 bpd during the week from 113,000 bpd in the previous week, according to the report. Crude oil imports by the US from Canada rose by 129,000 bpd to 4.16 mln bpd. Crude oil imports by the US from Saudi Arabia fell 115,000 bpd to 210,000 bpd and crude oil imports from Colombia fell 107,000 bpd to 121,000 bpd in the week ended Friday.

US crude oil exports rose 1.28 mln bpd to 4.59 mln bpd, the report said. Strategic Petroleum Reserves in the US increased 700,000 bbl to 380.6 mln bbl in the week.

Inventory of crude oil in Cushing, Oklahoma, a key delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude, fell to 22.7 mln bbl from 24.7 mln bbl the previous week, the report said. Cushing is the designated delivery point for New York Mercantile Exchange crude oil futures contracts. Market participants closely monitor stockpiles in Cushing, as it has a storage capacity of about 90 mln bbl. 

End

US$1 = 83.64 rupees

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Reported by Ashutosh Pati

Edited by Manisha Baxla

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