The headline numbers on the EIA report -- crude up 1 million barrels, gasoline up 1.7 million and distillate up 1 million -- sent the market lower, but on closer look the report is not so bearish.
The 1.528 million b/d total US gasoline imports and the 204,000 b/d week-over-week in Gulf Coast gasoline output should ease some supply concerns, as it shows refineries coming back from maintenance and the long-anticipated flow of imports starting to arrive. Demand is slowing down relative to year-ago levels
However, within the 1.7 million barrel gasoline build is a 1.2 million barrel build on the US West Coast, which is largely isolated from the rest of the US refining complex. Also, stocks are still 14.9 million barrels below the five-year average.
Crude prices should get a boost at the front of the curve from the 1.2 million barrel draw from Cushing, OK stocks, a sign that the glut at the WTI delivery point is loosening.
Crude imports fell back to 10.3 million b/d, and refinery utilization crept higher to 89.5%, which in theory should have led to a crude draw. Imports may have been a bit overstated the week before. In any case, the crude numbers don't totally add up.
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