Petroleum Data for Week Ending August 18th

Abbreviations:

MM = million

M = thousand

Bbl(s) = barrel(s)

Bbl/d = barrel(s) per day

WTI = West Texas Intermediate, the US bench mark crude for world pricing and the bench mark for NYMEX trading

NYMEX = New York Mercantile Exchange, a sub of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The NYMEX was once the largest oil, natural gas, and refined products open outcry (energy) exchange in the world

SPR = Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil was established primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products and to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program. The federally-owned oil stocks are stored in huge underground salt caverns at four sites along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. The sheer size of the SPR (authorized storage capacity of 714MM bbls) makes it a significant deterrent to oil import cutoffs and a key tool in foreign policy. 

Refineries

· U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.8MM bbl/d during the week ending August 18, which was nearly equivalent to the previous week’s average

· Refineries operated at 94.5% of their operable capacity last week

· Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 9.7MM bbl/d

· Distillate fuel production increased last week, averaging 5.1MM bbl/d

Imports

· U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.9MM bbl/d a decrease of .225MM bbl/d from the previous week

· Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.9MM bbl/d, 6.3% more than the same four-week period last year

· Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged .895MM bbl/d

· Distillate fuel imports averaged .088MM bbl/d

Inventories

· U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding SPR) decreased by 6.1MM bbls from the previous week

· At 433.5MM bbls, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 2% below the five-year average for this time of year

· Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 1.5MM bbls from last week and are about 5% below the five-year average for this time of year

· Both finished gasoline and blending components inventories increased last week

· Distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.9MM bbls and are about 16% below the five- year average for this time of year

· Propane/propylene inventories increased 1.7MM bbls from last week and are 21% above the five-year average for this time of year

· Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 3.0MM bbls last week

Supplied

· Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.9MM bbl/d, up by 4.5% from the same period last year

· Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.0MM bbl/d, up by 1.3% from the same period last year

· Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.8MM bbl/d over the past four weeks, down by 2.2% from the same period last year

· Jet fuel product supplied was up 5.6% compared with the same four-week period last year

Pricing

· WTI crude oil price was $81.25/bbl on Aug. 18, $1.92 less than the previous week, and $12.30 less than one year ago (At time of writing NYMEX WTI at $79.37/bbl)

· The spot price for conventional gasoline at New York Harbor fell to $2.879/gal, $0.116 less than a week ago, and $0.149 less than the price last year (NYMEX RBob at $2.773/gal)

· The New York Harbor spot price for ULSD fuel climbed to $3.148/gal, $0.034 more than the week-ago price, but $0.541 less than the price a year ago (NYMEX Heating oil at $3.143/gal)

· The national average retail price for regular gasoline was $3.868/gal on August 21, $0.018 more than last week, but $0.012 less than the price a year ago

· The national average retail price for diesel fuel increased to $4.389/gal $0.011 higher than a week ago, but $0.520 less than the price last year at the same time