The Platts pre-report analyst survey of EIA/API estimates suggests a decline of 1.3 million barrels in US crude oil stocks
Platts Survey of Analysts
- Crude oil stocks down 1.3 million barrels
- Gasoline stocks up 430,000 barrels
- Distillates stocks up 550,000 barrels
- Refinery utilization, or run rate, up 0.03 percentage point to 87.47%
New York - June 7, 2010
Data to be published this week by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is expected to show a commercial crude stock draw of 1.3 million barrels for the week ending June 4, according to analysts polled by Platts Monday.
API is scheduled to release its data at 4:30 p.m. ET (2130 GMT) Tuesday. EIA's report will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET (1530 GMT) Wednesday.
Crude stocks are projected to draw as an expected fall in imports outweighs the expected drop in demand from refiners.
"Crude supplies are expected to show another moderate draw largely as a result of anticipated further declines in imports following strength through most of last month," said independent analyst Jim Ritterbusch in a report.
Crude stocks typically draw this time of year. On the five-year average, crude stocks fell 2.16 million barrels during the reporting week, according to the EIA data.
The U.S. remains well-supplied with crude, and a 1.3 million barrel draw would put stocks at 361.9 million barrels, roughly 25 million barrels above the five-year average.
Ritterbusch is looking for crude stocks to decline 250,000 to 500,000 barrels at Cushing, Oklahoma, home of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) light, sweet crude oil futures contract delivery point.
Analysts are projecting refiner operations, or run rate, to fall 0.03 percentage points to 87.47% of capacity, based on EIA data for the week ending May 28. A drop fits with recent historic trends, although runs typically climb into the summer months as refiners boost gasoline production.
Analysts polled by Platts are expecting a 430,000-barrel-build in U.S. gasoline stocks and a 550,000-barrel increase in distillate stocks. Build would fit in with recent historical trends.
The U.S. remains very well supplied with distillates. Stocks at 152.99 million barrels the week ending May 28 were 31.12 million barrels above the five-year average, according to the EIA. In contrast, U.S. gasoline stocks at 218.98 million barrels were 11.03 million barrels above the five-year average.
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