In this week’s Energy Information Administration petroleum report on the potential of Oil and natural gas in the Arctic.
Here is a weekly review for the week ends on December 16th of the U.S. oil and petroleum market:
Crude oil Stockpiles
U.S. Petroleum and crude oil stockpiles changed direction and sharply declined during last week by 18.17 million barrels, or by 1.04%. For the week ending on December 16th petroleum and crude oil stockpiles reached 1,733.76 million barrels. The current oil stockpiles are below the quota from last year: the current crude oil stockpiles are 71.931 million barrels below oil stockpiles levels recorded during the same week in 2010.
U.S. Ending Stocks of crude oil also sharply declined by 10.5 million barrels and reached 1,019.532 million barrels.
U.S. Ending Stocks of Total Gasoline slightly slipped by 0.19% compared with last week’s stocks; it reached 218.406 million barrels.
The chart below presents the development of petroleum and oil stockpiles and WTI crude oil price during 2010 and 2011. During 2011, the lagged linear correlation between WTI oil price and current oil stockpiles was -0.137.
Petroleum production and imports (for the week of December 16)
U.S. oil refinery, inputs oil imports and oil production decreased last week.
The four week average of U.S. production (million of barrels a day) for the week of December 16th declined by 0.1% to 5.862; it is 5.0% above the average production at the same week in 2010;
Crude oil imports declined last week by 2.1% to 8.6 (for 4 week average) compared to the week of 9/12/2011; they were 1.4% above the average during the same time last year.
The crude oil refinery inputs (4 week average) reached 14.768 (million b/d), a moderate decrease of 0.3% compared with the previous week of 9/12/2011, and were 0.3% above the same time last year.
Below is a detailed recap of the information listed above (for the week of December 16th):
Crude oil price, Gasoline and Diesel Prices for the Week Ending on December 16th
The average U.S. gasoline retail price sharply declined for the fifth straight week, last week by six cents per gallon compared with the previous week’s average; it reached $3.23 /g, which is $0.25 /g higher than the same week in 2010.
The national average Diesel price also declined for the fourth straight week last week by three cents to $3.83/g, which is $0.58/g higher than last year’s average price at same time.
A detailed analysis of crude oil prices for the week ending on December 16th is herein.
Propane Prices and Stocks
Propane stocks declined by 2,296 thousand barrels and reached 56.887 million barrels. The average residential propane price slightly rose again by 1 cent to $2.86 per gallon; the current price is $0.18 above the rate during the same week in 2010.
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