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Crude Drops Following Surge in Inventories
Crude oil prices move lower on Wednesday in the wake of a robust inventory build in all three major petroleum areas. Prices had rebounded ahead of the two day Federal Reserve meeting which ends on Wednesday. It is widely expected that the Fed will increase interest rates by 25 basis points for the first time in 9-years.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged over 8.3 million barrels per day last week, up by 291,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the last four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 7.9 million barrels per day, 6.3% above the same four-week period last year.
On the inventory front, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 4.8 million barrels from the previous week. Gasoline inventories increased by 1.7 million barrels last week, and are in the upper half the upper half of the average range. Distillate fuel inventories increased by 2.6 million barrels last week and are in the upper half of the average range for this time of year.
On the demand front, total product demand over the last four week period averaged about 20.0 million barrels per day, down by 0.5% from the same period last year. Over the last four weeks, gasoline demand averaged over 9.2 million barrels per day, up by 0.7% from the same period last year. Distillate fuel demand averaged over 3.5 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, down by 8.2% from the same period last year.
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