US Oil Supplies Jump as Refinery Activity Stays Below Normal

By Dan Molinski

U.S. commercial inventories of crude oil unexpectedly rose by a massive amount last week in a buildup that's likely the result of refinery shutdowns during last month's cold spell, according to data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.

Benchmark U.S. oil prices that were higher before the report was released added slightly to those gains afterward. The Nymex front-month crude contract for February delivery was recently up 1.8% at $76.39 a barrel.

Commercial crude-oil stockpiles increased by 19 million barrels to 439.6 million barrels, and are now about 1% above the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would fall by 600,000 barrels from the prior week.

Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S. stocks, increased by 2.5 million barrels from the previous week, to 27.8 million barrels, the EIA said in its weekly report.

U.S. crude-oil production rose by 100,000 barrels a day from the previous week, to 12.2 million barrels a day, according to the EIA.

Gasoline stockpiles jumped by 4.1 million barrels, to 226.8 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations of a 600,000-barrel increase.

Distillate stocks, which are mostly diesel fuel, fell by 1.1 million barrels, to 117.7 million barrels, and are now about 18% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts had forecast distillates inventories would fall by 700,000 barrels from the previous week.

The refining capacity utilization rate jumped by a smaller-than-forecast 4.5 percentage points from the previous week, to 84.1%. That figure is below normal and shows refineries are yet to fully rebound from late December's Arctic blast. Analysts were forecasting a 5.2 percentage-point increase from the week prior.

 
 
 
 
U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Jan. 6: 
 
               Crude  Gasoline    Distillates  Refinery Use 
EIA data:      +19.0     +4.1         -1.1        +4.5 
Forecast:       -0.6     +0.6         -0.7        +5.2 
 
 

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

Write to Dan Molinski at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-11-23 1112ET