The recent EIA weekly report on crude oil price, consumption and storage analyze the gasoline prices as they are driven to rise due to the last couple of years’ crude oil price hike.
I will review the main findings of this report for the week ending on January 14th as crude oil price inclined, along with gasoline and propane prices and petroleum stocks.
Crude oil price
Crude oil price (WTI) weekly average was higher for the week of January 14th by 1.7% compare to the previous week’s average price. On average, crude oil price (WTI) daily change was 0.78%, and its price increased by 2.58% from beginning to end of the week.
The gasoline average retail price inclined for the seventh straight week, this time by nearly 0.015$/g from last week’s average to 3.1 $/g which is 0.37 $/g higher than for the same period in 2010.
A detailed analysis on crude oil price for the week of January 14th is in the herein.
Petroleum Stocks, production and consumption
Petroleum stocks in the US have increased for the second straight week, last week’s report showed a moderate rise of 0.1%; in this week’s report the stocks rose also by 0.1%, an increase of nearly 2.3 million barrels of crude oil.
The main reason for this rise is related to the increase in Stocks of Total Gasoline, which inclined by 2% a 4.4 million barrels rise – reaching 227.6 million barrels.
On the other hand, finished motor gasoline stocks continues to fall; the stocks decreased by 0.4% or 0.3 million barrels, reaching 66.8 million barrels – the lowest levels even recorded by the EIA in the past 17 years.
The average US production (million of barrels a day) was 5.488 on a four week average, very similar to the production for the same time last year;
Crude oil imports has increased for the week of January 14th (4 week average) by 0.7% compare to the week of 7/1/2011, and by 4% compare to last year’s same time.
The crude oil refinery inputs in the US has also increased by 6.3% for the week of January 14th (4 week average) and reached a 14.746 (million b/d) compare to 13.875 (million b/d) for the same week last year; however, it did fall by 1% compare to the previous week of 7/1/2011.
Propane
The cold weather throughout the U.S. and mainly in the east coast 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 5.4 million barrels – a 10.7% decline – reaching 45.1 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 3.45 $/g, a 0.09$/g increase, which is higher by 0.5 $/g, for the same period in 2010.
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