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Informist, Thursday, Mar. 13, 2025

MUMBAI – Crude oil inventories in the US, excluding those in the strategic petroleum reserves, rose by 1.4 million barrels from the previous week to 435.2 million barrels in the week ended Friday. Analysts at Dow Jones had expected the stocks to rise by 1.2 million barrels. US crude oil inventories were about 5% below the five-year average for this time of the year, the US Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Petrol inventories fell by 5.7 million barrels from the previous week to 241.1 million barrels, against a fall of 1.1 million barrels predicted by analysts polled by Dow Jones. Petrol stocks were 1% above the five-year average for this time of the year, the report said. Distillate fuel stocks fell by 1.6 million barrels to 117.6 million barrels in the week ended Friday, while Dow Jones' analysts had expected a fall of 300,000 barrels. Distillate fuel stocks were about 5% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

Refinery utilisation rose to 86.5% compared with 85.9% the previous week, according to the report. Crude oil production in the US, the largest producer of the commodity, rose by 67,000 barrels per day to 13.58 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday.

At 1212 IST, the most active April contract of West Texas Intermediate crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 0.4% at $67.44 per barrel.

US crude oil imports averaged 5.5 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday, down 343,000 barrels per day from the previous week, the report showed. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged about 5.8 million barrels per day, 10.6% lower than the corresponding period last year.

Of the top 10 countries that export crude oil to the US, imports from four countries fell during the week, while imports from Libya and Nigeria were nil. Imports of crude oil from Canada fell the most, by 416,000 barrels per day to 3.68 million barrels per day. Imports from Brazil fell by 220,000 barrels per day to 198,000 barrels per day and crude oil imports from Colombia dropped 155,000 barrels per day to 71,000 barrels per day.

Crude oil imports from Iraq rose by 125,000 barrels per day to 170,000 barrels per day, and imports from Ecuador rose by 118,000 barrels per day to 213,000 barrels per day, the report showed.

US crude oil exports dropped 846,000 barrels per day to 3.3 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday, the report showed. Strategic Petroleum Reserves rose by 300,000 barrels to 395.6 million barrels during the week.

Inventories of crude oil in Cushing, Oklahoma, a key delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude, fell by 1.2 million barrels to 24.5 million barrels in the week ended Friday, according to the report. Cushing is the designated delivery point for NYMEX crude oil futures contracts. Market participants closely monitor stockpiles in Cushing, as it has a storage capacity of about 90 million barrels.

End

US$1 = INR 87.02

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

Reported by Ashutosh Pati

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

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