Analysis: EIA Reports Across-The-Board Inventory Builds


   
Karim Bastati
DTN Analyst

   U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose by 3.9 million barrels to 424.6 
million bbls last week, up 1.3% year-on-year and 3% below the five-year 
seasonal average. Stocks on the U.S. Gulf Coast expanded by 5.5 million bbls in 
the week ending September 5 as exports fell sharply, Energy Information 
Administration data revealed Wednesday.

   A 1.14 million bpd week-on-week drop in exports and a 471,000 bpd decline in 
imports resulted in a 668,000 bpd week-on-week increase in net imports. Weekly 
import and export estimates are subject to large swings as they are highly 
dependent on the timing of customs filings and reporting by exporters. The EIA 
recommends using the four-week averages to glean trends from the data instead. 
In the four weeks ending September 5, crude oil imports and exports were 
closely in line with their pace in the same time period last year.

   Total commercial oil and product stocks expanded by 15.4 million bbls last 
week as inventories in every category grew week-on-week. Distillate fuel oil 
inventories added 4.7 million bbls to 120.6 million bbls, narrowing the gap to 
year-ago levels to 3.5% and to the five-year seasonal average to 9%. Diesel 
stocks have this year undergone a prolonged stretch of historical tightness, 
and while they continued to trail 2024 levels, the third consecutive build 
alleviated some of the pressure brought upon by low inventories.

   A colder start to the year and higher trucking demand has led to distillate 
fuel oil demand consistently outpacing 2024 levels so far this year. As of 
late, however, distillate fuel oil supplied, a proxy for demand, has started to 
inch closer to year-ago levels, with the four-week average measure up 75,000 
bpd, or 2%, year-on-year.




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