Oil Inventories Soared by 19.25M Barrels Last Week: EIA
Investing.com
Published Apr 15, 2020 10:28AM ET
Updated Apr 15, 2020 11:21AM ET
By Kim Khan
Investing.com - Stockpiles of U.S. crude posted another huge build last week, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday, as demand destruction from the Covid-19 pandemic continued.
Oil inventories jumped by 19.25 million barrels for the week ended April 3, the EIA said. That compared with expectations for a build of about 11.7 million barrels, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.
That brings the rise in inventories to nearly 50 million barrels in three weeks.
WTI futures fell 2.4%. They were down around 0.6% before the report arrived, having earlier posted a new low for 2020 of $19.21 a barrel.
“Four weeks into the U.S. lockdown, the crude builds are as horrible as they can be, and the worst thing is we aren’t by any stretch done with these sorts of builds,” Investing.com analyst Barani Krishnan said. “We have 65% more crude than we expected and 300% more diesel than we thought, although the gasoline build came in 25% less than expected, as a consolation.”
Gasoline inventories rose by 4.9 million barrels, versus forecasts for a rise of about 6.4 million barrels. Distillate stockpiles climbed by 6.3 million barrels, compared with expectations for a build of about 1.4 million barrels.
The Cushing build was nearly 6 million barrels, but exports actually rose by 600,000 barrels on the week, which is probably a flux in data that will get sorted out in the coming weeks, Krishnan said.
“Refining activity itself is under 70% of capacity, when we normally have more than 90% this time of year,” he added. “Crude production hasn’t fallen off the cliff yet at 12.3 million barrels daily, though we could see more of that happening from all the headlines about capex cuts by drillers and the slump in the rig count.”
Global oil demand is likely to drop by a record 9.3 million barrels per day in 2020, the International Energy Agency said earlier today.
Demand in April is estimated to be 29 million barrels a day lower than a year ago, down to a level last seen in 1995, the IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report, while demand in the second quarter of this year is expected to be 23.1 million barrels a day below year-ago levels.
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Written By: Investing.com
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