Stockpiles of Crude Oil Fall as Fuel Products See Builds
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a decrease of 2.184 million barrels in stockpiles of crude oil during the week ending on February 1st. However, there was an increase of 178,000 barrels at the delivery point of Cushing, Oklahoma.
Rise in Gasoline and Distillate Stocks
According to the API’s inventory report, gasoline stocks saw a rise of 5.261 million barrels and distillate stockpiles increased by 1.109 million barrels. These numbers serve as a preview for official inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) which will be released on Wednesday.
Expectations for the EIA Report
Analysts predict that the EIA will report a smaller build of 2.457 million barrels, compared to the 4.14 million barrel rise reported during the previous week ending January 27th. In terms of gasoline, the consensus is for a build of 1.271 million barrels, while for distillates, the expectation is for an increase of 0.097 million barrels.
Distillates, which are refined into diesel and jet fuel, have been the strongest component in terms of demand in the U.S. petroleum industry.