Crude oil inventories in the United States saw an increase of 1.3 million barrels during the week ending May 16, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration released on Wednesday.
Crude oil prices were trading up prior to the crude data release by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a build in US crude oil inventories of 2.499 million barrels in U.S. crude oil inventories with draws in gasoline and distillate stocks.
At 10:14 am in New York, the Brent benchmark was trading up $0.31 per barrel (+.47%) at $65.69—a roughly $0.80 drop week over week. WTI was trading up $0.37 (+0.60%) on the day at $62.40 per barrel, a $1 per barrel increase week over week.
For total motor gasoline, the EIA estimated that inventories increased by 800,000 barrels for the week to May 16, with daily production increasing to an average 9.6 million barrels. This compares with an inventory decrease of 1 million barrels for the previous week and an average daily production of 9.4 million barrels.
For middle distillates, the EIA estimated an increase of 600,000 barrels, with production increasing to 4.7 million barrels daily. This compares to an inventory dip of 3.2 million barrels in the week prior, when production stood at an average of 4.6 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 16% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total products supplied over the last four weeks were down week over week, averaging 19.6 million barrels per day—a 2.8% decrease from this time last year. Distillate products supplied over the last four weeks are up 4.2% compared to this time last year, while gasoline products supplied were up 1% from the same period last year.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com