In this week’s petroleum and oil weekly report by the Energy Information Administration, there is an analysis of the changing patterns in the U.S crude oil imports. The total U.S oil stockpiles increased during last week by 5.5 million bl. There was also an increase in production, imports and refinery inputs. This build up in stockpiles coincides with the ongoing decline in crude oil prices. Finally, the prices of gasoline and diesel in the U.S also fell during last week.
Here is a weekly overview for the week ending on May 25th 2012 of the U.S oil and petroleum market:
Crude Oil Stockpiles
For the week ending on May 25th, U.S. Petroleum and crude oil stockpiles increased again by 5.5 million barrels and reached 1,776.5 million barrels. The current oil stockpiles are still below the quota from last year: the current crude oil stockpiles are 11.5 million barrels below oil stockpiles levels recorded during the parallel week during 2011.
U.S. Ending Stocks of crude oil also increased by 2.2 million barrels and reached 1,080.691 million barrels.
On the other hand, U.S. Ending Stocks of Total Gasoline slightly declined by 0.41% compared with last week’s stocks; it reached 200.179 million barrels.
The chart below presents the recent changes in petroleum and oil stockpiles and WTI crude oil price between the years 2010 and 2012. During the past years the lagged linear correlation between WTI oil price and current oil stockpiles settled at -0.161.
Petroleum production refinery inputs and imports (for the week of May 25th)
During last week refinery inputs oil production and imports rose.
The four week average of U.S. production (million of barrels a day) for the week of May 25th rose to 6.188; it is 10.4% above the average production at the same week in 2011;
Crude oil imports increased last week by 0.7% to 8.872 (for 4 week average) compared with the week of 18/5/2012; they were 2.2% below the average during the same week last year.
The crude oil refinery inputs (4 week average) rose to 14.986 (million b/d), a 0.78% increase compared with the week of 18/5/2012, and were 3.1% above the same time last year.
Below is a detailed recap of the information listed above (for the week of May 25th):
Propane Stocks
Propane stocks increased again by 1,649 thousand barrels and reached 55,647 thousand barrels.
Crude Oil, Gasoline and Diesel Prices for the Week Ending on May 25th
The average U.S. gasoline retail price fell again by 4.5 cents to $3.67 /g, – $0.13 /g lower than the price during the same week in 2011.
The national average Diesel price declined by nearly 6 cent to $3.96/g, which is $0.05/g below last year’s average price at same time.
A detailed analysis of oil prices for the week ending on May 25th is herein.
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