In the recent Energy Information Administration petroleum report there is an analysis of the future role of Brazil in becoming one of the prime non-OPEC crude oil supplier.
Here is a weekly review for the week ends on October 21st of the U.S. oil and petroleum market:
Crude oil Stockpiles
U.S. Petroleum and crude oil stockpiles slightly rose last week by 0.7 million barrels, or by 0.04%. For the week ending on October 21st petroleum and crude oil stockpiles reached 1,758.9 million barrels. The current oil stockpiles are still well below the quota recoded in 2010: the current crude oil stockpiles are over 100,444 million barrels below oil stockpiles levels recorded during the same week in 2010.
U.S. Ending Stocks of crude oil sharply inclined by 4.7 million barrels and reached 1,033.58 million barrels; U.S. Ending Stocks excluding SPR of Crude Oil reached 337.634 million bbl – a weekly increase of 4.7 million bbl.
U.S. Ending Stocks of Total Gasoline on the other hand declined by 0.66% compared with last week’s stocks; it reached 204.918 million barrels.
The chart below presents the petroleum and oil stockpiles levels compared to the WTI crude oil price in 2010 and 2011. In the last several weeks, petroleum and oil stockpiles had a downward trend, while WTI crude oil spot price changed direction from the downward trend and rose in the past couple of weeks. During 2011, the lagged linear correlation between WTI oil price and current oil stockpiles was -0.133.
Petroleum production and imports (for the week of October 21st)
U.S. production slightly increased last week; oil imports and crude oil refinery inputs declined last week.
The four week average of U.S. production (million of barrels a day) for the week of October 21st reached 5.861, which is higher by 0.5% compared with the previous week’s; it is also 6.0% above the average production at the same week in 2010;
Crude oil imports declined last week by 0.9% to 8.77 (for 4 week average) compared to the week of 14/10/2011; they were 0.1% below the average during the same time last year.
The crude oil refinery inputs (4 week average) reached 14.678 (million b/d), a decrease of 0.9% compared with the previous week of 14/10/2011, but were 4.5% above the same time last year.
Below is a detailed recap of the information listed above (for the week of October 21st):
Crude oil price, Gasoline and Diesel prices for the week ending on October 21st
The average U.S. gasoline retail price changed direction again and decreased last week by 1.4 cents per gallon compared with the previous week’s average; it reached $3.46 /g, which is $0.65 /g higher than the same week in 2010.
The national average Diesel prices on the other hand inclined by 2.4 cents compared with the previous week; it reached $3.83/g. which is $0.76/g higher than last year’s average price at same time.
A detailed analysis of crude oil prices for the week ending on October 21st is herein.
Propane Prices and Stocks
Propane stocks slightly inclined last week by 182 thousand barrels – a 0.31% increase – reaching 59.111 million barrels. The average residential propane price didn’t change from last week and remained flat at $2.80 per gallon, which is $0.37 above the rate during the same week in 2010.
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