According to the latest crude oil weekly update of the Energy Information Administration petroleum, crude oil stockpiles continued to decline. Last week they have decreased by 4.4 million barrels; crude oil prices also edged down. In the EIA’s weekly update there is an analysis on the U.S tight oil production and the rising importance of this oil production.
Here is a weekly summary for the week ending on March 9th 2012 of the U.S. oil and petroleum market:
Crude oil Stockpiles
U.S. Petroleum and crude oil stockpiles decreased again last week by 4.4 million barrels, or by 0.25%. For the week ending on March 9th petroleum and crude oil stockpiles reached 1,749.552 million barrels. The current oil stockpiles are below the quota from last year: the current crude oil stockpiles are 16.678 million barrels below oil stockpiles levels recorded during the parallel week in 2011.
U.S. Ending Stocks of crude oil rose by 1.75 million barrels and reached 1,043.401 million barrels.
On the other hand, U.S. Ending Stocks of Total Gasoline decreased by 0.61% compared with last week’s stocks; it reached 228.121 million barrels.
The chart below shows the developments in petroleum and oil stockpiles and WTI crude oil price between 2010 and 2012. During said years the lagged linear correlation between WTI oil price and current oil stockpiles was -0.135.
Petroleum production and imports (for the week of March 9th)
Oil imports and oil refinery inputs decreased while oil production edged up during last week.
The four week average of U.S. production (million of barrels a day) for the week of March 9th increased by 0.1% to 5.817; it is also 4.0% above the average production at the same week in 2011;
Crude oil imports decreased last week by 0.1% to 8.927 (for 4 week average) compared with the week of 2/3/2012; they were 7.9% above the average during the same week last year.
The crude oil refinery inputs (4 week average) reached 14.637 (million b/d), a 0.44% decrease compared with the week of 2/3/2012, and were 5.6% above the same time last year.
Below is a detailed recap of the information listed above (for the week of March 9th):
Propane Prices and Stocks
Propane stocks declined by 1,311 thousand barrels and reached 42,187 thousand barrels. The average residential propane price slightly rose by less than a penny so remained at $2.87 per gallon; the current price is only 1 cent higher than the rate during the same week in 2011.
Crude oil price, Gasoline and Diesel Prices for the Week Ending on March 9th
The average U.S. gasoline retail price increased by 3.6 cents to $3.83 /g, – $0.26 /g higher than the price during the same week in 2011.
The national average Diesel price also rose by four cents to $4.12/g, which is $0.22/g higher than last year’s average price at same time.
A detailed analysis of crude oil prices for the week ending on March 9th is herein.
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