DTN Oil Update
Oil Futures Declined on Crude Inventory Build Last Week
HOUSTON (DTN) -- â?¯Crude oil and gasoline futures contract prices dropped Wednesday following reports from the Energy Information Administration and the American Petroleum Institute of a build in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories for the week ended Jan. 31.
The EIA said commercial crude oil inventories in the U.S. rose by 8.7 million bbl to 423.8 million bbl in the week ended Jan. 31.
The EIA data on commercial crude oil inventories surpassed the American Petroleum Institute data showing commercial crude oil inventory rose 5.025 million barrels (bbl) last week. At the Cushing, Oklahoma, tank farm, the delivery point for New York Mercantile Exchange WTI futures, stocks grew 110,000 bbl.
Gasoline inventory posted a build of 5.426 million bbl in the week ended Jan. 31 and distillate fuel supply tumbled 6.979 million bbl.
EIA also said gasoline stocks rose by 2.2 million bbl week-over-week to reach 251.1 million bbl, while distillate fuel stocks fell by 5.5 million bbl to 118.5 million bbl last week.
Both figures were lower than the 5.426 million bbl increase in gasoline inventory and a 6.98 million bbl drop in distillate fuel stocks reported by the API during last week.
Separately, gasoline supplies were at 8.3 million barrels per day (bpd), 25,000 bpd higher than the previous week. Distillate fuel oil supplies rose by 93,000 bpd to 4.6 million bpd in the reference week, the EIA said.
Refinery utilization rates were 84.5%, above the 83.5% reported the prior week, despite some U.S. Gulf Coast refineries are undergoing seasonal planned maintenance.
The front-month NYMEX WTI futures contract fell by $0.79 to $71.91 bbl, and March ICE Brent futures contract edged down by $0.90 to $75.30. March RBOB futures contract fell by $0.0348 to $2.0642 gallon while the ULSD futures contract for March delivery increased by $0.0248 to $2.4050 gallon.
Maria Eugenia Garcia can be reached at Maria.Garcia@dtn.com
