Tainted Alpha

Crude oil stocks rose 2.3 million barrels for week ending 29 January; Gasoline stocks increased for 2 million barrels; Distillate stocks fell 0.9 million barrels; Propane/propylene stocks decreased 3 million barrels; Other oils were down 1.9 million barrels; Total crude oil and petroleum stocks rose 0.8 million barrels.

Refinery utilization fell to a post Lehman new low of 77.7%.

Crude oil and petroleum product net imports were at 9.7 million barrels level (lower bound level). All categories of petroleum stocks are still at elevated levels.

A new low in refinery utilization is an indication of weak demand. The crude oil price recovered strongly, moving again to the shorting range.

Chart 1. Crude Oil Futures

Chart 2. Change in U.S. Crude Oil and Distillates Stocks

Chart 3. U.S. Total Crude Oil, Gasoline and Distillate Ending Stocks

Chart 4. U.S. Refinery Capacity, Inputs, and Production

Chart 5. Weekly U.S. Total Crude Oil and Petroleum Products Imports and Exports

Crude Oil

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 5:25 pm and is filed under Commodities, U.S. Petroleum Weekly. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.