Weekly reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), released on December 12th and 13th found a drop in national inventories of crude and heating oil for the week ending December 8th.
The API report saw crude stocks falling 1.09 million barrels to 286.67 million barrels, down 8.45 million barrels from the same period in 1999.
Gasoline stocks were seen rising 1.61 million barrels to 198.34 million barrels, up 2.98 million barrels from the previous year.
Stocks of distillates, including heating oil, dropped 4.53 million barrels to 115.6 million barrels, down 17.07 million barrels from 1999.
The API found refinery utilization for the week increasing 1.3 percent to 94.3 percent, a jump of 3.5 percent over the same period in 1999.
The EIA report showed crude stocks dipping by 3.4 million barrels to 288.7 million barrels, down 6.5 million barrels from the same period in the previous year. Gasoline stocks increased 1.4 million barrels to 196.6 million barrels, up 6.1 million barrels from last year.
Distillates were seen down 4.7 million barrels to 115.3 million barrels, representing a 22.5-million-barrel drop from 1999 levels.
Heating oil stocks declined 2.3 million barrels to 47.3 million barrels, down 18.9 million barrels from a year ago. The EIA also reported refinery utilization for the week increasing by 1.5 percent to 94.2 percent.
