The Prices of crude oil remained nearly unchanged today despite the recent EIA report in which the oil production in the U.S continued to rise. According to the recent petroleum and oil weekly report published by the Energy Information Administration, there is an update about the West Coast gasoline markets. During last week there was a decline in the U.S stockpiles: the total U.S oil and petroleum stockpiles fell by 2.6 million bl; on the other hand, crude oil stockpiles also rose by 2.8 million bl. Last week, there was a rise in production but a drop in imports and refinery inputs. Finally, the prices of gasoline in the U.S decreased during last week. Currently, the price of oil is slightly up.
Here is a weekly update for the week ending on October 12th 2012 of the U.S oil and petroleum market:
Crude Oil Stockpiles
For the week ending on October 12th, U.S. Petroleum and crude oil stockpiles declined again by 2.6 million barrels and reached 1,789 million barrels. The current oil stockpiles are higher than the quota as of last year: the current crude oil stockpiles are 31.1 million barrels above oil stockpiles levels of the parallel week during 2011.
U.S. Ending Stocks of crude oil rose by 2.8 million barrels and reached 1,064.1 million barrels.
The U.S. Ending Stocks of Total Gasoline also increased by 0.88% compared with last week’s stocks; it reached 197.1 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 -0.183. This relation suggests, assuming all things equal, that oil prices may pick up again during the upcoming week.
Petroleum production refinery inputs and imports (for the week of October 12th)
During last week, production rose again while refinery inputs and imports fell.
The four week average of U.S. production (million of barrels a day) for the week of October 12th increased to 6.558; it is also 12.5% above the average production at the same week in 2011.
The crude oil refinery inputs (4 week average) decreased to 14.76 (million b/d), a 0.2% fall compared with the week of 5/10/2012 was also 0.3% lower than the same week last year.
Crude oil imports fell to 8.067 (for 4 week average) compared with the week of 5/10/2012; they were also 8.9% below the average during the same week last year.
Below is a detailed review of the information listed above (for the week of October 12th):
Propane Stocks
Propane stocks decreased by 1,268 thousand barrels and reached 74,628 thousand barrels.
Crude Oil, Gasoline and Diesel Prices for the Week Ending on October 12th
The average price of U.S gasoline retail decreased by three cents to $3.82/g, which is still $0.34/g higher than the price during the same week in 2011.
The national average Diesel price rose by six cents as it reached $4.15/g; this price is also $0.35/g higher than last year’s average price at same time.
A detailed analysis of oil prices for the week ending on October 12th is herein.
For further reading: