DTN Oil Update
Oil Futures Rose on Crude, Diesel Stocks Drop, Gasoline Up
HOUSTON (DTN) --â?¯Oil futures contract prices were mixed on Thursday in response to Energy Information Administration data showing a drop in U.S. crude and diesel stocks and a hike in gasoline inventories for the week ended Jan. 17.
The EIA said commercial crude oil inventories in the U.S. fell by 1.0 million barrels (bbl) to 411.7 million bbl in the week ended Jan. 17.
U.S. crude inventories are about 6% below the five-year average for this time of the year, EIA said.
The EIA data on commercial crude oil inventories was in the opposite direction of a 1.0 million barrel per day (bpd) increase reported by the American Petroleum Institute Wednesday for the same reference week.
API also showed crude oil stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma tank farm, the delivery point for NYMEX WTI futures, added 573,000 bbl.
Downstream, EIA said that gasoline stocks rose by 2.3 million bbl week-over-week to reach 245.9 million bbl, while distillate fuel stocks fell by 3.1 million bbl to 128.9 million bbl last week.
Both figures were different from a 3.2 million bbl increase of gasoline inventory and an a 1.9 million bbl increase of distillate fuel supply reported by the API during the same reference week.
Separately, gasoline supplies were at 8.1 million bpd, down 239,000 bpd compared to the previous week. Distillate fuel oil supplies rose by 269,000 bpd to 4.1 million bpd in the reference week, the EIA said.
Crude oil throughput edged down for the second consecutive time by 400,000 bpd to 13.4 million bpd last week, compared to the week ended Jan. 10, according to EIA data.
Crude oil refinery inputs were at 15.5 million bpd, 1.1 million bpd lower than the previous week's average.
Refinery utilization rates were 85.9%, below 91.7% reported the prior week.
Oil futures showed mixed fortunes after the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Supply Report released today, as both crude benchmarks, WTI and Brent reversed gains recorded early morning. ULSD and RBOB future prices for February delivery remained bullish.
The February NYMEX WTI futures contract fell by $0.35 to $75.09 bbl, and March ICE Brent futures contract edged down by $0.27 to $78.73. February RBOB futures contract rose by $0.0141 to $2.0719 gallon while the front-month ULSD futures contract increased by $0.0047 to $2.4889 gallon.
Maria Eugenia Garcia can be reached at Maria.Garcia@dtn.com