US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell 6.3 million bbl during the week ended June 30 compared with the previous week’s total, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
At 502.9 million bbl, US crude inventories are in the upper half of the average range for this time of year. EIA reported a slight increase a week earlier (OGJ Online, June 28, 2017).
Analysts surveyed by the Wall Street Journal expected EIA to report a 2.5 million-bbl drop for the week ended June 30.
Using its own data, the American Petroleum Institute estimated crude stockpiles fell 5.8 million bbl while gasoline stockpiles lost 5.7 million bbl.
EIA said total motor gasoline inventories declined 3.7 million bbl last week but are near the upper limit of the average range. Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories decreased.
Distillate fuel inventories dropped 1.9 million bbl but are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Propane-propylene inventories increased 2.1 million bbl but are in the lower half of the average range. Total commercial petroleum inventories lost 13.4 million bbl.
US crude refinery inputs last week averaged 17.1 million b/d, up 251,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 93.6% of their operable capacity.
Gasoline production increased to 10.4 million b/d, while distillate fuel production decreased to 5.1 million b/d.
US crude imports averaged 7.7 million b/d, down 274,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Over the last 4 weeks, crude imports averaged 7.9 million b/d, down 1% from the same 4-week period last year.
Total motor gasoline imports, including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, averaged 739,000 b/d. Distillate fuel imports averaged 108,000 b/d last week.