EIA Weekly reports by the Energy Information Agency (EIA), the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the American Petroleum Institute (API) released on November 22nd and 21st found sharp increases in U.S. crude and heating oil inventories.
The API report found crude stocks for the week ended November 17th up 6.44 million barrels to 290.65 million barrels, down 16.25 million barrels from the same period in 1999. Gasoline stocks were also up 460,000 barrels to 193.51 million barrels, up 1.32 million barrels from 1999.
Distillate inventories showed a build of 60,000 barrels to 115.22 million barrels, down 15.82 million barrels from the previous year. The API found U.S. refinery utilization down 0.4 percent to 92.7 percent.
The EIA numbers showed crude inventories gaining 6.2 million barrels to 290.2 million barrels, down 10.8 million barrels from the same period in 1999. Gasoline stocks fell 100,000 barrels to 188.9 million barrels, down 15.9 million barrels from a year ago.
Combined distillates were seen down 300,000 barrels to 114.9 million barrels, down 25.2 million barrels from the previous year, while heating oil stocks rose 100,000 barrels to 47.9 million barrels, down 21.1 million barrels from 1999. The EIA also found refinery utilization dropping 0.6 percent to 93.3 percent.
