By Le Figaro with AFP
Published update
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Commercial crude oil reserves fell sharply to everyone’s surprise last week in the United States, according to figures released Wednesday by the United States Energy Information Agency (EIA), which also showed a new strengthening of demand.
At the end of the week ended March 24, US commercial inventories contracted by 7.5 million barrels, while analysts forecast an increase of 1.75 million, according to a consensus established by the Bloomberg agency. Nevertheless, commercial reserves remain very much higher than those measured a year ago (15% more).
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The surprise announcement initially sent oil prices skyrocketing, but the momentum faded after just a few minutes. Around 3:00 p.m. GMT, the price of a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May took 0.50% to 73.57 dollars. This unexpected drop is partly explained by the acceleration in the activity of American refineries, whose utilization rate climbed to 90.3%, against 88.6% the previous week, which increases their needs. in gross.
The months of February and March traditionally correspond to a maintenance phase for refineries, which therefore often operate at limited capacity, before ramping up as the start of the major displacement season approaches, at the end of May. Moreover, the period was also marked by a slowdown in imports (-14% over one week), while exports held up better (-7%).
The spark came from gasoline
The EIA also noted new signs of a strengthening of American demand (+2.2% over one week), which now stands 3% above its level last year at the same time. The spark came from gasoline, demand for which is at a three-month high, leading to a 2.9 million barrel decline in US gasoline inventories last week.
For Matt Smith, of Kpler, the renewed appetite for gasoline is driven by attractive fuel prices. The average price of gasoline is thus 18% lower than last year’s rate on the same date in the United States. Crude production fell slightly, to 12.2 million barrels per day, against 12.3 previously.
