In a coincidence of events, U.S. Crude oil stocks decreased last week with an increase in exports, as reported by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Here’s a simple breakdown of the key points from the latest EIA data:
Sharp decline in crude oil inventories:
US crude oil stocks experienced a significant drop of 6.4 million barrels, settling at 453.6 million barrels for the week ending April 19. This decrease starkly contrasted with the initial analysts' forecast of an 825,000-barrel increase according to a Reuters poll.
Increase in exports:
The substantial reduction in crude oil inventories coincided with the year's largest weekly surge in exports, which jumped by 453,000 barrels per day (bpd) to reach 5.18 million bpd. Concurrently, net crude oil imports decreased by 417,000 bpd.
Local storage changes:
At the Cushing, Oklahoma futures delivery center, crude oil inventories fell by 659,000 barrels over the same week.
Market reaction:
Following the release of this data, U.S. crude oil and gasoline futures briefly turned positive but later dropped. By mid-morning, crude was trading down by 80 cents, and gasoline had decreased by 0.3%.
Gasoline and distillate stocks:
Gasoline inventories also declined, although less than expected, with a 600,000-barrel drop versus forecasts for a 1.8 million barrel reduction. Meanwhile, distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, unexpectedly increased by 1.6 million barrels, against expectations of a 1.1 million barrel decrease.
Refinery operations:
Refinery crude runs decreased slightly by 42,000 bpd, while refinery utilization rates edged up by 0.4 percentage points during the week.
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