Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles rose by nearly six million barrels last week — about a third of what they lost the prior week — amid shifts to global supply dynamics from Saudi production cuts aimed at getting more money for a barrel despite weak demand from No. 1 oil buyer China.
Offsetting some of that crude stockpile build were the first substantial drawdowns in gasoline and distillates in weeks.
Crude production in the United States, meanwhile, hit a three-year high last week at a projected 12.6M barrels per day — a level not seen since the record 13.1M produced daily before the coronavirus outbreak of March 2020.
Crude stockpiles rose by 5.851M barrels during the week ended Aug. 4, after the historic 17.049M-barrel plunge reported in the prior week to July 28, the Weekly Petroleum Status Report from the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, showed.
Industry analysts had projected a crude stockpile growth of just 0.567M for last week.
A closer examination of the EIA weekly report showed the crude build likely came from a slump in U.S. crude exports, which stood at 2.36M last week compared with the prior week’s 5.283M.
On the gasoline inventory front, there was a draw of 2.661M versus the build of 1.480M the week before. It was the first substantial gasoline consumption in five weeks, after a similar reduction of almost 2.6M during the week to July 1. The forecast was for a draw of 0.008M. Automotive fuel gasoline is the No. 1 U.S. fuel product.
With distillate stockpiles, the decline came in at 1.706M barrels for last week versus the prior week’s draw of 0.796M.
It was the largest weekly draw in distillates since the week ended May 5. Analysts had projected a U.S. distillates build of 0.006M barrels instead for last week. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships, and fuel for jets.