The U.S. Energy Department's weekly inventory release showed that crude stockpiles fell sharply, as imports declined. The agency's report further revealed that within the 'refined products' category, gasoline stocks edged up, while distillate supplies were down from the week-ago levels. Meanwhile, refiners pulled back their utilization rates by 0.6%.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) Petroleum Status Report, which contains data for the previous week ending Friday, outlines information regarding the weekly change in petroleum inventories held and produced by the U.S., both locally and abroad.
The federal government's EIA report revealed that crude inventories fell by 4.27 million barrels for the week ending June 29, 2012, following a decline of 133,000 barrels the week before.
Analysts surveyed by Platts had expected oil stocks to go down some 2 million barrels. A dip in the level of imports and production led to the stockpile drawdown with the world's biggest oil consumer even as refiners lowered their utilization rates.
However, crude inventories at the Cushing terminal in Oklahoma – the key delivery hub for U.S. crude futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange – increased by 225,000 barrels from previous week's level to 47.64 million barrels. Stocks are just under the all-time high of 47.78 million barrels reached earlier in June.
At 382.90 million barrels, current crude supplies are 6.8% above the year-earlier level, and are over the upper limit of the average for this time of the year. The crude supply cover was down from 24.8 days in the previous week to 24.5 days. In the year-ago period, the supply cover was 23.6 days.
"My well came in big, so big, Bick and there's more down there and there's bigger wells. I'm rich, Bick. I'm a rich 'un. I'm a rich boy." - Jett Rink
