Gold and Silver Info: Crude Oil Price Slumps as Inventory Jumps

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Crude Oil Price Slumps as Inventory Jumps

ONG Focus | Insights | Written by Oil N' Gold | Wed Oct 27 10 11:12 ET

Total crude oil and petroleum products stocks rose +0.59 mmb to 1132.78 mmb in the week ended October 22. Crude oil inventory soared +5.01mmb to 366.21 mmb as stock-builds were recorded in all 5 regions. Cushing stock, however, slipped -0.35 mmb to 33.66 mmb. Utilization rate rose for a second week to 83.7%.

Concerning oil products, both gasoline and distillate stockpiles declined during the week. Gasoline inventory fell -4.39 mmb to 214.94 mmb while that for distillate dipped -1.61 mmb to 166.84 mmb. Gasoline demand jumped +5.25% to 9.36M bpd but was partly offset by increases in production (+1.86%) and imports (+28.24%). Similarly, +2.78% surge in distillate demand but was partly offset by increases in production (+3.25%) and imports (+35.71%).

WTI crude oil price tumbled to as low as 80.52 after the report. Commodity prices are weighed down by USD's rebounded ahead of the FOMC meeting. Stronger-than-expected durable goods orders and new home sales triggered speculations that the Fed may introduce a mild QE program next week.

Weekly change in inventory as of 22/10/10

Comparison between API and EIA reports: Forecast (using API's inventory level)

API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, 76% of the time, using data in the past 4 years.

Source: Bloomberg, API, EIA