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Informist, Thursday, Apr. 17, 2025

MUMBAI – Crude oil inventories in the US, excluding those in strategic petroleum reserves, rose by 500,000 barrels to 442.9 million barrels in the week ended Friday, the US Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had expected the stocks to rise by 800,000 barrels. US crude oil inventories were about 6% below the five-year average for this time of the year, the report showed.

Petrol inventories fell by 2 million barrels from the previous week to 234 million barrels, against a fall of 1.5 million barrels predicted by analysts polled by Dow Jones. Petrol stocks were around 1% below the five-year average for this time of the year, the report said. Distillate fuel stocks fell by 1.9 million barrels to 109.2 million barrels in the week ended Friday, while analysts polled by Dow Jones had expected a fall of 800,000 barrels. Distillate fuel stocks were about 11% below the five-year average for this time of the year.

Refinery utilisation fell marginally to 86.3% from 86.7% the previous week, according to the report. Crude oil production in the US, the largest producer of the commodity, rose slightly by 4,000 barrels per day to 13.46 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday.

At 1321 IST, the most-active June contract of West Texas Intermediate crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 0.9% at $62.40 per barrel.

US crude oil imports averaged 6 million barrels per day in the week ended Friday, down 189,000 barrels per day from the previous week, as per the report. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged about 6.2 million barrels per day, 5.2% lower than the corresponding period last year.

Of the top 10 countries that export crude oil to the US, imports from five countries fell during the week. Imports of crude oil from Canada fell the most, by 415,000 barrels per day to 3.5 million barrels per day. Imports from Mexico fell by 320,000 barrels per day to 278,000 barrels per day, and imports from Venezuela fell by 149,000 barrels per day to 136,000 barrels per day.

Crude oil imports from Colombia rose by 320,000 barrels per day to 341,000 barrels per day, and imports from Brazil rose to 233,000 barrels per day from nil, the report showed.

For the week ended Friday, crude oil exports from the US rose by 1.9 million barrels per day to 5.1 million barrels per day, the report showed. Strategic petroleum reserves rose by 300,000 barrels to 397 million barrels during the week.

Inventories of crude oil in Cushing, Oklahoma, a key delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude, fell by 700,000 barrels to 25.1 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 85.45

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

Reported by Ashutosh Pati

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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