US commercial crude inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels in the week ended 23 October, reaching 410.6 million barrels. The total excluded the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Gasoline inventories rose while distillate stocks declined. The weekly figures put crude stocks 4 percent below their seasonal five-year average, with refineries operating at 92.8 percent of capacity.
US commercial crude inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 1.9 million barrels in the week ended 23 October. The US Energy Information Administration’s 28 October release put the remaining stock at 410.6 million barrels, 4 percent below the five-year average for this time of year. The previous week’s crude decline had been 3.1 million barrels.[1], [2]
Gasoline inventories increased by approximately 620 million litres, while distillate inventories fell by approximately 240 million litres. Those changes correspond to the source figures of 3.9 million and 1.5 million barrels respectively. Gasoline stocks remained 2 percent below their seasonal five-year average; distillate stocks were 10 percent below. Total commercial petroleum inventories declined by 3 million barrels during the week.[1], [2]
Refineries processed an average of 16.5 million barrels of crude daily, a decrease of 123,000 barrels a day from the preceding week. They operated at 92.8 percent of available capacity. Crude imports increased by 616,000 barrels a day to 6.4 million. Over four weeks, crude imports averaged 6.3 million barrels daily, 9.3 percent above the corresponding year-earlier period.[1]
