DTN Oil Update
Oil Crude Futures Slid, Driven by High Inventory Levels
HOUSTON (DTN) -- Oil crude and gasoline futures contract prices settled lower on Wednesday following reports from Energy Information Administration and the American Petroleum Institute indicating a build in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories for the week ending Jan. 24.
The EIA reported Wednesday that commercial crude oil inventories in the U.S. rose by 3.5 million bbl to 415.1 million bbl in the week ended Jan. 24.
The EIA data on commercial crude oil inventories surpassed the 2.86 million bpd increase reported by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday, Jan. 28, for the same reference week. Crude oil stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma tank farm, the delivery point for NYMEX WTI futures, declined 144,000 bbl, according to API data.
The EIA also noted that gasoline stocks rose by 3.0 million bbl week-over-week to reach 248.9 million bbl, while distillate fuel stocks fell by 5.0 million bbl to 116.2 million bbl last week.
Both figures were significantly higher than the 1.89 million bbl increase in gasoline inventory and a 3.75 million bbl fall in distillate fuel stocks reported by the API during last week.
Meanwhile, gasoline supplies were at 8.3 million bpd, 216,000 bpd higher than the previous week. Distillate fuel oil supplies rose by 398,000 bpd to 4.5 million bpd in the reference week, the EIA said.
Refinery utilization rates were 83.5%, below the 85.9% reported the prior week, due to planned maintenance work at some U.S. Gulf Coast refineries and other output disruptions caused by a winter storm last week.
The announcement from the Federal Reserve, maintaining U.S. interest rates at a range of 4.25%-4.5%, steady from December levels, had little impact on the futures market after the conclusion its first Federal Open Market Committee meeting of the year.
Fed Chair Jerome Powel dismissed the possibility interest rates cuts in the short term because the U.S. economy is strong overall and that "long term inflation expectations appear well anchored", during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
The front-month NYMEX WTI futures contract fell by $0.81 to $72.96 bbl, and March ICE Brent futures contract edged down by $0.59 to $76.90. February RBOB futures contract fell by $0.0131 to $2.0395 gallon while the ULSD futures contract for February delivery increased by $0.0123 to $2.4626 gallon.
The U.S. Dollar Index rose by 0.12% to 107.800 against a basket of foreign currencies.
Maria Eugenia Garcia can be reached at Maria.Garcia@dtn.com
