Total crude oil and petroleum products stocks surged +8.92 mmb to 1139.31 mmb in the week ended August 20. This is the biggest increase in 4 weeks. Crude oil inventory rose for the first time in 4 weeks, by +4.11 mmb, to 358.28 mmb and was mainly driven by the build in the Gulf Coast. Although Cushing stock dropped -0.78 mmb, to 36.26 mmb, it fails to provide any boost to the sentiment. Utilization rate slipped to 87.7%, the lowest level since May 28.

Stockpiles for oil products rose with gasoline adding +2.27 mmb to 225.62 mmb and distillate gaining +1.76 mmb to 175.97 mmb. For gasoline, demand contracted 0.89% to 9.38M bpd, production increased +1.83% to 9.62M bpd and imported jumped +30.68% to 1.41M bpd, offsetting the +8.06% gain in the prior week, distillate demand dropped -1.25% to 3.63M bpd. Production also rose +3.63% to 4.39M bpd but imports fell -37.31% to 0.16M bpd.

WTI crude oil price plummeted to a 11-week low of 70.76 after the report. Indeed, the selloff accelerated as the US reported another set of weaker-than-expected economic data. Durable goods orders climbed +0.3% m/m in July while the market had anticipated a +3% gain. Excluding transportation, the reading slumped -3.8%, compared with consensus of a +0.5% increased. New home sales declined -16.36% to a record low of 276K in July.

Comparison between API and EIA reports:

API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, 76% of the time, using data in the past 4 years.

Source: Bloomberg, API, EIA