DTN Oil

WTI Pares Losses Despite Lower Runs on Large Crude Draw

Liubov Georges
By  Liubov Georges , DTN Energy Reporter

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Crude and refined products futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange pared early declines after government data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported larger-than-expected draws occurred in domestic crude and distillate inventories during the final week of August, while a surprise build in gasoline stocks and weaker refinery runs kept contracts in the red.

In late morning trading, NYMEX October West Texas Intermediate futures declined $0.68 to $67.78 per barrel (bbl), and international Brent crude benchmark for November delivery fell to $70.83 bbl. NYMEX October RBOB futures slumped 5.15 cents to $2.0904 gallon, and the NYMEX October ULSD contract moved down 2.2 cents to near $2.1082 gallon.

Midmorning inventory data showed U.S. commercial crude oil inventories declined 7.2 million bbl from the previous week to 425.4 million bbl, about 7% below the five-year average. Earlier in the week, analysts expected crude stockpiles would show a smaller 2.8 million bbl drawdown and preliminary data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a 4.045 million bbl drop. Oil stored at Cushing, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate futures, rose 836,000 bbl from the previous week to 34.5 million bbl.

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Larger-than-expected crude draw came despite a 100,000 bpd increase in domestic production to 11.5 million bpd and reduced refinery crude throughput, with the refinery run rate easing 1.1% from a nine-week high to 91.3%.

Gasoline stockpiles rose by 1.3 million bbl last week to 227.2 million bbl compared with analyst expectations for inventories to have decreased by 1.5 million bbl. Gasoline supplied to the U.S. market, a measure for demand, remained largely unchanged at 9.578 million bpd.

Distillate stocks fell 1.7 million bbl to 136.7 million bbl and are now about 9% below the five-year average. Earlier in the week, analysts had estimated distillate supplies would be unchanged from the previous week. Distillate consumption jumped 286,000 bpd to 4.390 million bpd.

Government figures were largely consistent with DTN's Refined Fuels Demand data, showing gains in distillate fuel demand last week far outpaced those for gasoline. DTN shows distillate use surged 2.6% during the final full week of August compared with a 0.4% gain for gasoline. Diesel demand was up 3.6% relative to the same week in 2019 last week, strengthening compared to seasonal norms after being up just 1% compared to 2019 levels in the prior week.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 21.4 million bpd, up by 17.1% from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.5 million bpd, up by 6.9% from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4.1 million bpd over the past four weeks, up 10.4% from the same period last year.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 21.4 million bpd, up 17.1% from the same period last year.

Liubov Georges can be reached at liubov.georges@dtn.com

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Liubov Georges