According to the latest petroleum and oil weekly report prepared by the Energy Information Administration, there is an analysis on the consumption in gasoline which has remained nearly unchanged in recent years. During last week there was a decline in the U.S stockpiles: the total U.S oil and petroleum stockpiles fell by 9.6 million bl; further, crude oil stockpiles also decreased by 7.4 million bl. There was a decline in refinery inputs, production and imports. This decline is most likely due to the effect of Hurricane Isaac that caused a shutdown in many refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. Finally, the prices of gasoline and diesel in the U.S increased again during last week.
Here is a weekly overview for the week ending on August 31st 2012 of the U.S oil and petroleum market:
Crude Oil Stockpiles
For the week ending on August 31st, U.S. Petroleum and crude oil stockpiles changed direction and fell by 9.6 million barrels and reached 1,787.7 million barrels. The current oil stockpiles are still similar to the quota as of last year: the current crude oil stockpiles are 2.8 million barrels above oil stockpiles levels of the parallel week during 2011.
U.S. Ending Stocks of crude oil also fell by 7.4 million barrels and reached 1,053.05 million barrels.
The U.S. Ending Stocks of Total Gasoline also decreased by 1.16% compared with last week’s stocks; it reached 198.9 million barrels.
The chart below presents the changes of petroleum and oil stockpiles and WTI crude oil price between the years 2008 and 2012. During the last couple of years the lagged linear correlation between WTI oil price and current oil stockpiles was -0.177.
Petroleum production refinery inputs and imports (for the week of August 31st)
During last week imports refinery inputs and production declined. This decline was most likely due to the impact of Hurricane Isaac.
The four week average of U.S. production (million of barrels a day) for the week of August 31st decreased to 6.043; it is still 7.9% above the average production at the same week in 2011;
The crude oil refinery inputs (4 week average) also declined to 15.284 (million b/d), a 1.6% fall compared with the week of 24/8/2012, and were also 1.4% lower than the same week last year.
Crude oil imports rose to 8.614 (for 4 week average) compared with the week of 24/8/2012; they were 4.9% below the average during the same week last year.
Further, during recent months there was a strong negative correlation between the changes in the above-mentioned figures and the weekly price of WTI oil. E.g. the linear correlation between the lagged by one week of refinery input and the price of oil is -0.53. This could mean that the decline in refineries, assuming all things equal, may pull up the price of WTI oil.
Below is a detailed review of the information listed above (for the week of August 31st):
Propane Stocks
Propane stocks rose by 838 thousand barrels and reached 72,496 thousand barrels.
Crude Oil, Gasoline and Diesel Prices for the Week Ending on August 31st
The average U.S gasoline retail price rose again by 7 cents to $3.84 /g – $0.17/g higher than the price during the same week in 2011.
The national average Diesel price also increased by 4 cent to $4.13/g; this price is $0.26/g higher than last year’s average price at same time.
A detailed analysis of oil prices for the week ending on August 31st is herein.
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