US crude stocks rise by 1.8mn bl last week: Update

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US crude inventories rose by 1.8mn bl last week on a sizable build in the Gulf coast region, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported today.

Crude stocks across the US came in at 458.8mn bl in the week ended 17 May, up from 457mn bl a week earlier. Inventories were up by by 3.7mn bl compared to a year earlier.

Stocks in the US Gulf coast rose on the week by 3.6mn bl to 261.5mn bl, approaching a 12-month high set in the week ended 26 April when stocks were at 261.6mn bl.

The week-over-week build in the US Gulf coast ranks as the fifth largest through the first 20 weeks of the year.

Inventories at the Cushing storage hub in Oklahoma rose by 1.3mn bl to 36.3mn bl, but that was still 910,000 bl lower than the same week in 2023.

Crude inventories at the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) increased by 993,000 bl to 368.8mn bl, the largest weekly build so far this year. SPR stocks are not included in the overall EIA commercial crude inventory figures.

US crude exports rose last week by 595,000 b/d to 4.7mn b/d, while imports fell by 81,000 b/d to 6.7mn b/d. Net imports fell by 676,000 b/d to 1.9mn b/d as a result.

Domestic crude output was steady at 13.1mn b/d.

US crude refiners processed about 16.9mn b/d last week, up by 241,000 b/d from the week prior and the highest since the week ended 12 January. Runs were 354,000 b/d higher than the same week in 2023.

Refinery utilization rates on average rose to 91.7pc nationwide, up from 90.4pc in the prior week and 91.7pc in the same week of 2023.

Refiners in the midcontinent and Gulf coast regions drove the weekly gains, each climbing to multi-month highs. Utilization rates in the midcontinent rose to 94.8pc from 90.8pc in the week prior while rates in the Gulf coast climbed to 93.7pc from 92.7pc.

By Brett Holmes