DTN Oil

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- New York Mercantile Exchange oil futures moved mixed in late morning trade Wednesday after inventory data from the Energy Information Administration showed total U.S. oil and petroleum product supply declined during week ended March 31, while demand for gasoline jumped to the highest weekly rate this year at 9.295 million barrels per day (bpd), a full 8% above the 2022 level.

Near 11:30 a.m. EDT, NYMEX RBOB May futures advanced $0.0371 to $2.7747 gallon and ULSD May futures added $0.0468 to $2.7117 gallon. Moving in an opposite direction than product futures, West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery declined $0.59 to $80.19 barrel (bbl).

Gasoline inventories declined for the seventh straight week through March 31, down 4.1 million bbl to a 13-week low 222.6 million bbl, widening a deficit against the five-year average to 16.12 million bbl. The draw was slightly below a 4.346 million bbl decline reported late Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute, but steeper than analyst expectations for a 1.2 million bbl fall. Over the four-week period ended March 31, implied gasoline demand averaged 9 million bpd, 3.9% higher than the comparable four-week consumption rate last year.

The steep draw is realized following the heaviest refinery maintenance season in five years, with planned turnarounds taking about 1.5 million bpd of refining capacity offline at its peak in February. The U.S. refinery run rate, however, slipped from a 13-week high utilization rate to 89.6%. U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.6 million bpd during the week ending March 31, which was 198,000 bpd less than the previous week's average.

In the distillate fuel complex, inventories fell 3.6 million bbl from the previous week to 113.1 million bbl, and are now about 12% below the five-year average, EIA said. Analysts had expected distillates inventories to have fallen by a modest 500,000 bbl.

EIA data shows distillate fuel oil, overwhelmingly diesel, supplied to the U.S. market increased by 527,000 bpd to 4.240 million bpd during the week-ended March 31, up 593,000 bpd against the comparable week a year ago.

On a four-week average, distillate fuel product supplied to the U.S. market averaged 3.9 million bpd, down 0.1% from the same period last year. Jet fuel supplied to the domestic market was up 6.1% compared with the same four-week period last year.

Commercial crude inventory in the United States declined for the second straight week through March 31, down 3.7 million bbl to 470 million bbl. The draw was smaller than API's reported 4.346 million bbl, while larger than the 1.5 million bbl expected by analysts.

Total oil and oil product stocks fell 11 million bbl to 1.226.25 billion bbl.

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