In this recent EIA report on crude oil, gasoline and propane stocks, production, consumption and prices it also refers to its recent yearly outlook on energy market in 2011, including on crude oil price.
According to the report, the EIA expects crude oil price (WTI spot) in 2011, on average, to be 93 USD/b, which is 14$/b higher than the average price in 2010. I referred to this report in another post. In any case, I have written on this subject in the past and presented my crude oil price outlook in 2011. For now, let’s get back to the main results from last week’s data on the crude oil market.
Here is a weekly review on petroleum stocks for the last week of the year 2010:
Petroleum Stocks of the passing week:
According to the recent EIA report, petroleum stocks, after falling consecutively for the past several weeks, last week it showed a moderate rise. For the week of January 7th the stocks rose by 0.1%, an increase of nearly 0.94 million barrels of crude oil. This break in the stocks decline is part of the rise in demand for energy throughout the U.S mainly for heating purposes.
The main reason for this rise is related to the increase in Stocks of Total Gasoline, which inclined by 2.3% a 5 million barrels rise – reaching 223.2 million barrels.
On the other hand, Finished Motor Gasoline stocks continues to fall; the stocks decreased by 1.8% or 1.2 million barrels, reaching 67.1 million barrels – the lowest levels even recorded by the EIA in the past 17 years.
The gasoline average retail price inclined for the sixth straight week, this time by nearly 0.02$/g from last week’s 3.09 $/g, to 3.11 $/g which is 0.34 $/g higher than for the same period in 2010.
Propane: the cold weather throughout the U.S. and mainly in the Northeast is one of the main reasons for the continuous rise in propane consumption; as a result, propane stocks continue to fall dramatically; according to the latest report, they fell by 2 million barrels – a 3.8% decline – reaching 50.5 million barrels – the lowest level since July 2010.
As a result, propane prices continue to rise, according to the EIA report, the average residential price in the U.S. is 2.76 $/g, a 0.02$/g increase, which is higher by 0.1 $/g, for the same period in 2010, i.e. 2.66$/g.
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