There was little of note in this week's EIA data, other than another crude draw in Cushing, Oklahoma, which fell by 900,000 to 22.8 million barrels. Stocks at the NYMEX crude contract delivery point have now fallen for seven weeks in a row, and are at their lowest level since March.
The draw should lead to further tightening of the August/September WTI spread, which strengthened by four cents to -$0.35/barrel following the data release. But gains could be limited, as problems at Coffeyville, Kansas and Whiting, Indiana refineries could limit crude demand in that region, resulting in a stock build in next week's report.
One other factor that the EIA itself pointed out is that while total gasoline inventories rose 1.2 million barrels, finished gasoline stocks fell 400,000 barrels. The previous week's record-high gasoline production came as a result of refiners turning as much of their blending components as possible into finished gasoline.
So, despite a 25,000 b/d rise in refinery inputs week-over-week, finished gasoline production fell 173,000 b/d. It's likely that finished gasoline production levels will continue to fluctuate as refiners build up and draw down their blending component inventories to take advantage of rising or falling spot gasoline differentials.
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