EIA: Oil Storage Report - March 13

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Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the week ending March 8, 2019

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.0 million barrels per day during the week ending March 8, 2019, which was 30,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 87.6% of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.7 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging 4.9 million barrels per day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.7 million barrels per day last week, down by 255,000
barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports
averaged about 6.8 million barrels per day, 9.0% less than the same four-week period last
year. Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline
blending components) last week averaged 573,000 barrels per day, and distillate fuel
imports averaged 238,000 barrels per day.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve) decreased by 3.9 million barrels from the previous week. At 449.1 million
barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 2% above the five year average for this time
of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 4.6 million barrels last week and
are about 2% above the five year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline and
blending components inventories both decreased last week.
Distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.4 million barrels last week and are about 1% below the five year average
for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories decreased by 1.2 million barrels last
week and are about 11% above the five year average for this time of year.
Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased last week by 10.2 million barrels last week.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.9 million barrels per
day, up by 2.2% from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline
product supplied averaged 9.0 million barrels per day, down by 2.2% from the same
period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4.1 million barrels per day over
the past four weeks, up by 3.1% from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied
was down 1.7% compared with the same four-week period last year.
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"This was your best chance to get an increase in supply because from this point forward, with the refiners starting to slowly come out of maintenance, with OPEC cuts starting to kick in and Venezuelan supplies, you’re probably now looking at a future with more draws in the coming weeks," Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
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Read: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-crude- ... 43286.html

[dan_s]

by Keith Kohl on 3/13/2019: Forget U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.

There’s absolutely nothing President Trump can do that can harm Venezuela’s oil industry more than it already has been.

The crippling blackouts that have gripped much of Venezuela for nearly a week have been a catastrophe waiting to happen.

This crisis was inevitable, and make no mistake: There’s no clear solution ahead.

The issue surrounds the country’s primary hydroelectric plant. Reuters reported that the cause of the problem with this power plant is still unknown, but we can certainly rule out any quick fixes.

At last count, 16 states, or roughly 70% of the country, were completely without power.

The horrific effects of this outage go beyond spoiling meat and looters plundering local stores for whatever food they can scrape away with.

Hospitals are forced to treat patients without electricity, and the death toll is rising.

Truth is, the situation is far, far worse than anyone can imagine.