2023-11-22 16:26:03
New York (awp/afp) – American commercial crude oil stocks jumped last week, according to figures released Wednesday by the American Energy Information Administration (EIA), in proportions well above the expectations of the walk.
These reserves increased by 8.7 million barrels during the week ended November 17, while analysts expected an increase of only 1.75 million, according to a consensus established by the Bloomberg agency.
This jump is, in part, linked to the increase in imports (+2% over one week) combined with a slowdown in exports (-2%). During the week covered in the EIA report, the United States imported, in net, some 12 million barrels.
On the domestic market, deliveries of gasoline (-5%) and kerosene (-16%) decreased, a sign of a deceleration in demand.
While analysts expected a drop of 1.1 million barrels in gasoline stocks, they increased by 700,000 barrels.
The movement in stocks is also due to a statistical adjustment by the EIA, which added some 7.5 million barrels to the volumes of crude arriving on the American market.
These rectifications reflect the taking into account of data relating to previous periods which were not known at the time of publication of the corresponding reports.
In terms of fundamentals, the increase in commercial stocks is at odds with the acceleration in activity at American refineries, whose utilization rate rose to 87%, compared to 86.1% the previous week.
As for American production, it remained unchanged, at 13.2 million barrels per day, a record level for the United States.
The market reacted little to this publication. The price of a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), already in sharp decline, remained in the red. Around 4:15 p.m. GMT, it fell 4.28%, to $74.44.
afp/rp
1700678477
#Oil #massive #increase #American #crude #stocks #million #barrels #November #p.m