US stock build falls short of API estimate
Front-month ICE Brent crude futures declined by $0.33/bbl in the half hour after official weekly figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) were released this afternoon.
PHOTO: Oil refinery complex with big American flag displayed, and fumes coming out from the chimney. Getty Images
Commercial US crude oil stocks increased by 3.92 million bbls in the week to 4 November. At 440.75 million bbls, the crude inventories are about 3% below their five-year average.
The build-up was much lower than the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) earlier prediction of a 5.6 million-bbl increase. But still higher than the Reuters analyst poll estimate of a 1.1 million bbl increase.
Releases from Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs) accelerated to 3.57 million bbls in the week, leaving 396 million bbls in storage.
US refinery utilisation rose by 1.5 percentage points to a five-week high of 92.1%.
East Coast utilisation has been maxed out for a third consecutive week and refineries in the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountains have averaged around 91% utilisation. West Coast utilisation fell from 93.9%, to 88.5% in the latest week.
By Nithin Chandran
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