The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said yesterday that crude oil supplies were up 2.8 million barrels last week to 360.6 million barrels, due to increased imports. Supplies of gasoline were up 1.2 million barrels and heating oil supplies were unchanged. June crude oil dropped $2.77 to $79.97 – slumping to three-month lows.
However, the gasoline demand is showing an up tick as the summer driving season gears up to enter its peak stage. Over the past four weeks, gasoline demand was up 3.5% from a year ago while distillate demand was up 5.1% from a year ago.
Imports of crude oil climbed 2.8 percent to 9.95 million barrels a day, the highest level since the week ended July 24, the department`s report yesterday showed. Fuel imports surged 9.9 percent to 3.1 million barrels a day, the highest level since the week ended Feb. 5.
Inventories of crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, where the New York-traded West Texas Intermediate oil grade is stored, rose 4.9 percent to 36.2 million barrels, the highest level since the department began reporting on supplies at the hub in April 2004.
Refineries operated at 89.6 percent of capacity, up 0.7 percentage point from the prior week and the highest level since May 2008, according to the Energy Department report
Source : Capital Market
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