Commercial crude oil reserves in the United States fell sharply last week, well beyond analysts’ expectations, but gasoline reserves increased, according to the weekly report released on Wednesday by the United States Information Agency. energy (EIA).
Crude inventories fell 3.2 million barrels (MB) for the week ended August 13 from the week before, as analysts expected a smaller decline of 1.45 MB .
Less positive sign for demand, gasoline stocks on the other hand increased by 700,000 barrels while analysts forecast a decrease of 2 MB with the movements of the summer.
This disappointing development in gasoline demand, a sign that Americans’ vacation trips were not as numerous as expected, weighed on prices.
While rising at the opening, WTI’s US barrel price for September delivery fell 0.33% to $ 66.37 at 3:00 p.m. GMT.
A few months ago “many predicted that American gasoline demand would hit 10 million barrels per day over the summer with motorists hitting the road for the holidays (…), but demand disappointed “Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates told AFP.
This demand for gasoline fell slightly to 9.33 million barrels per day (mbd), against 9.43 million the week before.
Overall consumption of petroleum products increased to 21.4 mbd, 1.9 mbd more than last week.
A positive sign for the resumption of air traffic, the demand for kerosene has increased significantly, from 1.27 mbd to 1.67 mbd.
The production of black gold in the United States increased slightly to 11.4 million barrels per day (mbd), from 11.3 mbd.
Refinery capacity utilization increased further to 92.2% from 91.8% the week before, with an average of 16 million barrels processed per day.
Imports remained almost stable at 6.35 mbd while exports increased sharply by 768,000 barrels to 3.4 mbd.
Strategic crude oil reserves were unchanged over the period at 621.3 MB. In Cushing, Oklahoma, where gigantic vats housing New York-listed WTI barrels are located, stocks fell by 1 million barrels to 33.6 MB.
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