In this week’s petroleum and crude oil report by the Energy Information Administration, it was reported that petroleum and crude oil stockpiles slightly rose during the previous week. There was also a rise in imports, production and refinery inputs. On the other hand crude oil prices continued their decline. Furthermore, the prices of gasoline and diesel in the U.S also decreased. This week’s EIA analysis is on the effect of oil prices’ fall on the developments in gasoline prices.
Here is a weekly summary for the week ending on May 4th 2012 of the U.S crude oil and petroleum market:
Crude oil Stockpiles
For the week ending on May 4th, U.S. Petroleum and crude oil stockpiles slightly rose by 1.5 million barrels and reached 1,767.05 million barrels. The current oil stockpiles are below the quota from last year: the current crude oil stockpiles are 7 million barrels below oil stockpiles levels recorded during the parallel week in 2011.
U.S. Ending Stocks of crude oil also increased again by 3.6 million barrels and reached 1,075.46 million barrels.
Finally, U.S. Ending Stocks of Total Gasoline decreased by 1.25% compared with last week’s stocks; it reached 207.1 million barrels.
The chart below presents the shifts in petroleum and oil stockpiles and WTI crude oil price between 2011 and 2012. During said years the lagged linear correlation between WTI oil price and current oil stockpiles remained at -0.147.
Petroleum production and imports (for the week of May 4th)
During last week oil imports refinery inputs and production rose.
The four week average of U.S. production (million of barrels a day) for the week of May 4th reached at 6.103; it is 8.7% above the average production at the same week in 2011;
Crude oil imports also rose last week by 1.3% to 8.818 (for 4 week average) compared with the week of 27/4/2012; they were 0.3% above the average during the same week last year.
The crude oil refinery inputs (4 week average) reached 14.595 (million b/d), a 0.67% increase compared with the week of 27/4/2012, and were 3.6% above the same time last year.
Below is a detailed recap of the information listed above (for the week of May 4th):
Propane Stocks
Propane stocks rose again by 2,516 thousand barrels and reached 51,023 thousand barrels.
Crude Oil, Gasoline and Diesel Prices for the Week Ending on May 4th
The average U.S. gasoline retail price fell again by 4 cents to $3.79 /g, – $0.18 /g lower than the price during the same week in 2011.
The national average Diesel price also decreased again by 1 cent to $4.06/g, which is $0.05/g lower than last year’s average price at same time.
A detailed analysis of crude oil prices for the week ending on May 4th is herein.
For further reading: