DOE CRUDE STATS | April 28, 2010

Stocks still building

DOE CRUDE STATS Stocks still building The demand numbers don’t look quite as bearish as last week’s but inventories continue to paint a bleak picture. Total commercial inventories grew by another 12.9m bbl, coming within arm’s reach of last year’s very high levels, building at a faster pace than in Apr09. During the past few weeks, we have focused on the potential imbalances in the gasoline market. Although gasoline inventories did fall by 1.24m bbl, the yoy surplus widened to 11.1m bbl......

DOE CRUDE STATS | April 21, 2010

Bearish stats emerge from hibernation for a week

April 21, 2010 Bearish stats emerge from hibernation for a week This week’s EIA report didn’t contain many supportive numbers. Stats looked bearish pretty much across the petroleum complex. On the demand side, total product supplied (apparent demand) fell 0.53 mb/d on the week, including a 0.3 mb/d drop in principal product demand (primarily due to declines in gasoline and distillate). Meanwhile, refiners curbed throughput slightly, but the jump in primary product yields sent gasoline pr.....

DOE CRUDE STATS | April 14, 2010

Runs still rising

DOE CRUDE STATS April 14, 2010 Runs still rising Double-digit gasoline cracks have looked very attractive to refiners, who ramped up runs by another 209 kb/d, including increases across al regions. Runs have increased 800 kb/d (4wk average) since early Feb, even with PADD II refineries yet to exit maintenance season. Along the Gulf Coast, throughput reached its highest level since August 2007. Total product supplied (apparent demand) increased 110 kb/d due to a 250 kb/d jump in gas.....

DOE CRUDE STATS | April 07, 2010

Runs continue to surge

DOE CRUDE STATS April 7, 2010 Runs continue to surge This week’s big news was the jump in US refining throughput, concentrated in PADD III (Gulf Coast). Total US refinery runs reached 14.6 mb/d for the week, on par with runs during this time of year in 2007. Not only are refiners signaling that current crack spreads incentive enough to ramp of runs ahead of the summer driving season, but they are shifting their output to capture the distillate spreads, which strengthened relative t.....

DOE CRUDE STATS | March 31, 2010

Stepping on the gasoline market

DOE CRUDE STATS March 31, 2010 Stepping on the gasoline market Demand for major product classes continued to move sideways, leaving apparent demand for principal products unchanged on the week. Gasoline apparent demand continues to track just below year-ago levels (4wk avg -0.45% yoy) with weekly distillate demand numbers failing to reflect any rebound in economic activity (4wk avg -1.48% yoy). The strongest product class continues to be the Other category, with apparent demand up 0.62.....

DOE CRUDE STATS | March 24, 2010

Pointing toward gasoline weakness

DOE CRUDE STATS March 24, 2010 Pointing toward gasoline weakness This week’s headline numbers include the largest crude inventory build in 16 months. But with this number more than likely reflects seasonal stock building amplified by the transfer of some floating storage to measured inland stocks. Overall, the data continue to point toward a second consecutive year of massive inventory builds through the summer. This time, the culprit is more likely to be gasoline than distillate. Ma.....

DOE CRUDE STATS | March 17, 2010

Few surprises, little change

DOE CRUDE STATS March 17, 2010 Few surprises, little change This week’s EIA report yielded few surprises. For the most part, inventories followed their typical seasonal patterns while weak demand numbers continued to move sideways. Major data points: Crude oil inventories: Built 1.01m bbl, in line with expectations of a 1.15m bbl build. But with a 1m bbl build in PADD V (West Coast), inventories east of the Rockies were essentially unchanged. Cushing stocks drew 0.68m bbl to .....

DOE CRUDE STATS | March 10, 2010

Taking the Lead?

DOE CRUDE STATS March 10, 2010 Taking the lead? Year-on-year apparent demand growth moved into positive territory this week (4wk moving average), due as much to the collapse in demand a year ago as to an increase in US consumption. Despite this growth, market observers have been baffled by the seeming disconnect between headline economic indicators and energy statistics. Though most data releases have been showing US economic growth, apparent demand statistics emanating weekly from the.....

DOE CRUDE STATS | March 03, 2010

March 03, 2010

DOE CRUDE STATS March 3, 2010 Few constructive data points This week’s stats largely extend the stories that have prevailed over the past three weeks – weak demand relative to recent history, recovering runs along with imports, and still-high inventories relative to historical norms (especially in terms of days forward cover). Despite lower gasoline and distillate production y-o-y, and much lower imports in the case of gasoline, weak demand has prevented product stocks from cleaning up.....

DOE CRUDE STATS | February 24, 2010

Temporary strength in gasoline demand and imports

DOE CRUDE STATS February 24, 2010 Temporary strength in gasoline demand and imports The weekly jump in apparent gasoline demand should be ephemeral as this week’s number likely reflected pent up deliveries that had been delayed by the prior week’s snowstorms that had paralyzed the mid-Atlantic. Runs climbed to a four-month high, but may have a bit more room to grow, particularly in PADD III . Imports also hit a similar high, but should fall back below 9 mb/d following this week’s te.....