API Review: Crude, products stockpiles decline
Futures World News - December 27, 2000 18:33
Dec. 27-MAR--
--NY Feb crude, Jan heating oil up; API stock drops exceed views
--NY Jan gasoline up on surprising API stockpile drop
--API: US crude stocks down 2.059 mln barrels in latest week
--API: US distillate stocks down 1.856 mln barrels in latest week
--API: US gasoline stocks down 2.117 mln barrels in latest week
--API: US refineries operate at 93.4% in latest wk vs 93.4%
--APIs imply US distillate demand 4.35 mln bpd vs 4.14 mln
--APIs imply US gasoline demand 8.50 mln bpd vs 8.61 mln
By Karyn Peterson and Peter Rosenthal, BridgeNews
New York--Dec. 26--NYMEX nearby crude and refined oil products futures
rose slightly in overnight Access trade as American Petroleum Institute
data showed U.S. petroleum stockpiles fell across the board last week.
Inventories of crude and distillates fell by 2.059 million and 1.856
million barrels, respectively, while gasoline stocks surprisingly also
dropped, down 2.117 million barrels.
* * *
API also reported that U.S. refinery rates were flat; expectations
were for runs to be flat to up 0.5 a point.
At 1712 ET, NYMEX nearby Feb WTI crude was up 3 cents at $26.50 a
barrel, while nearby Jan heating oil was up 9 points at 93.80c a gallon
and nearby Jan gasoline was up 16 points at 75.50c a gallon.
The data are for the week ended Friday, Dec. 22, delayed 24 hours by
the extended Christmas holiday. The U.S. Department of Energy will release
its weekly inventory data on Thursday after 0900 ET.
Most brokers and analysts expected crude stockpiles to have been flat
to down only 1.0 million barrels last week, due to steady imports matched
by strong refiner demand. However, while input to refiners rose
marginally, import levels dropped, resulting in a significant drawdown of
total stocks.
Distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, were expected
to decline 1.5-2.5 million barrels on rising demand due to the recent cold
weather in the U.S. Northeast, which proved true. The growing demand, as
implied by the data, overshadowed higher domestic output, while a slight
drop in distillate import levels also contributed to the total stock
decline.
Many brokers and analysts actually expected gasoline stockpiles to
have risen 1.0-2.0 million barrels due to high refinery output. But
domestic production actually tumbled last week; at the same time, motor
gasoline imports last week fell to only about a third of what they had
been the previous week.
CRUDE: Down 2.059 million barrels
The largest drop in crude inventories, 670,000 barrels, was recorded
on the Gulf Coast, the largest refining region in the country, which seems
somewhat in line with marginally higher throughput to refineries, which
rose to 15.474 million barrels per day, from 15.460 million bpd the
previous week.
The data also seems consistent with lower import levels, which dropped
to 8.767 million bpd, from 8.963 million bpd the previous week.
Also last week, only about 625,000 more barrels of crude from the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve was delivered to the market under the
Department of Energy's latest swap plan, according to the DOE, at least
half of the amount that was delivered the previous week.
Media://NewsSearch::/QuickSearch/id=BNFBBKY/go
Crude stocks also fell 618,000 barrels on the generally
unrepresentative West Coast region, followed by a 435,000-barrel drop on
the East Coast.
In the Midwest, which includes the NYMEX delivery point for light,
sweet crude oil futures at Cushing, Okla., crude stocks fell 336,000
barrels, helping to widen the year-to-year deficit there to widen to 2.780
million barrels, from 2.6 million barrels the prior week.
However, the year-to-year deficit in total stocks actually narrowed to
4.927 million barrels last week, from 8.452 million barrels the previous
week.
Stocks in Rocky Mountains were flat to the previous week, API said.
DISTILLATES: Down 1.856 million barrels
Demand for distillate fuels increased last week, with higher
production rates somewhat offset by a dip in imports. However, most of the
drawdown came at the U.S. Gulf, which could mean more product is on its
way to the fuel-hungry Northeast.
Imports were measured at 227,000 barrels per day, down from 253,000
bpd a week earlier but still above 1999 levels. Domestic refineries
produced 3.86 million bpd, from 3.75 million a week earlier.
High-sulfur distillate, or heating oil, fell only 38,000 barrels in
the key East Coast market and 676,000 barrels overall. Again, most of the
decrease was in the Gulf Coast, the largest refining center.
The modest East Coast drawdown helped narrow the year-to-year deficit
substantially to 11 million barrels, or 30%, from 37% a week prior. Total
distillate inventories are now only 8.5% below the same week in 1999,
compared with a 12% deficit in the previous report.
GASOLINE: Down 2.117 million barrels
Large drawdowns at the Gulf Coast and in the Midwest offset a slight
rise in the East Coast and flat inventories elsewhere. The draw was aided
by a 200,000 bpd decrease in domestic production and an even bigger drop
in imports.
U.S. refineries produced 8.0 million bpd of gasoline, down from 8.2
million bpd a week earlier, while imports dropped to 174,000 bpd from
501,000 bpd. When including gasoline blending components, the decrease was
even larger.
Stocks of reformulated gasoline on the East Coast, the basis for the
NYMEX futures contract, rose again, this week by 1.7 million barrels and
are now 5.1 million barrels above year-ago levels.
REFINERIES: Unchanged at 93.4%
Overall refinery rates were unchanged as decreases on the East and
West coasts were offset by higher runs in the Midwest and at the U.S.
Gulf.
The drop in the West Coast may have been attributed to a shutdown of a
crude unit at Valero's Benicia, Calif. refinery and efforts by Tesoro
Petroleum to reduce operations at its Anacortes, Wash. plant due to high
power costs.
High margins in most regions though have kept operating rates 4.1
basis points above year-ago levels. End
Copyright 2000 Bridge Information Systems Inc. All rights reserved.
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