According to the OGJ website on August 8, the U.S. Energy Intelligence Agency (EIA) said that as of August 2, the U.S. commercial crude oil stocks, excluding strategic oil reserves, had increased by 2.4 million barrels compared with the previous week.
EIA said in its weekly oil status report that oil stocks reached 438.9 million barrels, about 2% higher than the five-year average at this time of year.
It ended seven consecutive weeks of inventory decline. Many people were surprised by the increase in crude oil supply. Analysts and traders surveyed by the Wall Street Journal expect inventories to fall by 2.8 million barrels.
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In September and October, the price of light, low-sulfur crude oil fell by more than $2.50 a barrel, the lowest settlement price for crude oil in recent months in New York since January. The September contract closed at $51.09 per barrel on August 7.
Total car gasoline inventories increased by 4.4 million barrels, 4% higher than the five-year average at this time of year. Stocks of finished gasoline and blended components increased. Distillate stocks increased by 1.5 million barrels, about 1% below the five-year average at this time of year.
Propane-propylene stocks increased by 2.9 million barrels in the week ending 2 August. It is about 8% higher than the five-year average for this season.
The capacity of American refineries was 96.4%, and the average input for the week ending August 2 was 17.8 million barrels per day, an increase of 786,000 barrels per day over the previous week’s average. Gasoline production increased, averaging 10.4 million barrels per day. Fractional fuel production increased, averaging 5.3 million barrels per day.
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Crude oil imports rose to 7.1 million barrels a day in the week ending August 2. This is an increase of 485,000 barrels per day over the previous week. In the past four weeks, oil imports averaged 6.9 million barrels a day, a 14.9% decrease over the same period in 2018.
Total imports of gasoline, including blended components of refined gasoline and gasoline, averaged 1.2 million barrels per day last week and 253,000 barrels per day for distillate oil.
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