The report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that total crude oil and petroleum products (ex. SPR) stocks soared +4.79 mmb to 1291.67 mmb in the week ended March 19. Crude oil inventory gained +1.91 mmb (consensus: -0.27 mmb) to 502.71 mmb. Stockpile increased in 2 out of 5 PADDs. PADD 3 (Gulf Coast) alone saw stock-build of +5.39 mmb. Cushing stock dropped -1.94 mmb to 46.28 mmb. Utilization rate rose +5.5 percentage point to 81.6% while crude production climbed +0.1 M bpf to 11M bpd for the week. Crude oil imports increased +0.3M bpd to 5.62M bpd in the week.
Concerning refined oil product inventories, gasoline inventory increased +0.2 mmb, to 232.28 mmb although demand gained +2.1% to 8.62M bpd. The market had anticipated a +1.19 mmb decrease in stockpile. Production fell -3.4% to 8.58M bpd while imports added +3.2% to 0.94M bpd during the week. Distillate stockpile rose +3.81 mmb to 141.55 mmb. The market had anticipated a -0.12 mmb decrease. Demand slumped -10.8% to 3.59M bpd. Production gained +8.8% to 4.6 mmb while imports jumped +26.7% to 0.66M bpd during the week.
A day earlier, the industry-sponsored API estimated that crude oil inventory gained +2.93 mmb. Gasoline stockpile rose +3.73 mmb, while that for distillate added +0.25 mmb.