NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) - U.S. crude and gasoline
inventories rose sharply in the week Oct. 10 as demand
continued to fall, according to data released by the U.S.
Energy Information Administration on Thursday.
Distillate inventories fell slightly while refinery
utilization rose.
U.S. crude oil prices tumbled after the release of the
data. []
HIGHLIGHTS FROM EIA REPORT (In million barrels):
- Crude +5.6 (forecast +1.9)
- Distillate -0.5 (forecast +0.6)
- Gasoline +7.0 (forecast +2.9)
Click here for the EIA status report []
Click here for the API status report []
ANALYST COMMENTS
CHRIS JARVIS, SENIOR ANALYST, CAPROCK RISK MANAGEMENT, NEW
HAMPSHIRE:
"Weak demand and ramped up production for refined products
following Hurricane Ike continues to drive bigger-then-expected
builds across the board. Demand continues to be weak, which
could be attributed to the credit crunch and consumers
hunkering down.
Overall, the energy complex, minus natural gas, remains in
a tail spin and these numbers today just add fuel to the
fire."
"However, if stocks can stabilize and generate some sort of
a rally, we wouldn't be surprised to see crude put in a near
term bottom. Right now, its all about the equity markets and
extreme volatility that has the energy complex jiving with
every twist and turn of the major indexes."
TIM EVANS, ENERGY ANALYST FOR CITI FUTURES PERSPECTIVE, NEW
YORK
"The build in crude oil was larger than expected, with
another strong week of imports. Cushing stocks rose 500,000
million barrels, relieving some tightness there.
"Gasoline stocks also jumped more than expected, with the
7.0 million barrel build coming on stronger refinery production
and similar strong imports to the prior week.
"Distillate stocks fell 500,000 barrels, about what we
expected, although supportive relative to market expectations
for a build. Overall, though, the data was clearly bearish, and
bearish for the gasoline crack spread."
MARK KELLSTROM, ANALYST, STRATEGIC ENERGY RESEARCH, SUMMIT,
NEW JERSEY
"From what I can see the numbers look bearish. I'd argue
it's already discounted in the price of crude, but it's
probably going to make people nervous.
"I would say it's consistent with inventory builds after
Katrina and Rita and Ivan and other hurricanes, but there's no
doubt it's a big build."
AMANDA KURZENDOERFER, COMMODITIES ANALYST, SUMMIT ENERGY,
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
"I think it's still a demand story, we're moving lower
following the report. We saw some very large builds in gasoline
and crude oil for the second week in a row, this confirms the
fact that demand is truly weakening in the United States. This
has really been the dominant theme in the market for a while --
we're seeing an extension of that.
"The increase in refinery utilization was pretty much in
line with expectations, but we could see starting to top out
soon with margins as low as they are."
(New York Energy Desk, 646-223-6050)
