Helped by the fall of the dollar that makes the barrel cheaper, the market welcomed the weekly report of reserves in the United States, which shows a sustained demand for refined products.
Commercial crude oil reserves increased sharply last week in the United States, by 2.5 million barrels (mb), well above the 1.5 mb expected by analysts according to the consensus gathered by the Bloomberg agency.
This unexpected increase is partly explained by a decline in refinery activitywhich were operating at 88.9% capacity, up from 89.5% a week earlier.
In addition, imports increased (+4.6% in one week), and the government made available 3.4 mb of its strategic reserves, which added volume to the US market.
These factors offset the jump in crude oil exports (+23%), which reached an all-time high for the United States.
While, The demand for refined products remains high: consumption reached 20.5 mb per day last week, above the demand for hydrocarbons in 2021 at the same time.
Given this demand, “Production was stable, and it will remain so unless the oil giants announce major investments in capacity.”
In the case of gasoline, although prices continue to fall in the United Statesfutures contracts are at two-month highs, indicating that prices will rise soon.
This situation is driven by strong US demand, relatively low stocks, and rising exports to Europe, which is facing a potential energy crisis.
For Mizuho’s Robert Yawger, “this could quickly become a political issue” for the Joe Biden administration, which has so far refused to limit US exports to lower gasoline prices.
Source: Ambito
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