Analysis of U.S. EIA data: U.S. crude oil stocks plunge amid drop in imports, refinery-rate increaseOil traded higher but didn't spike, $93.71 last I saw:
U.S. commercial crude oil stocks plunged 6.267 million barrels to 391.285 million barrels during the reporting week ended May 31, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed Wednesday, as imported volumes dropped sharply and crude oil runs at U.S. refineries rose.
The drop, which echoed the 7.792 million-barrel decline shown in American Petroleum Institute (API) figures released late Tuesday, was unexpected in its scope. Analysts polled by Platts Monday had expected a much more moderate 1 million-barrel drop, which was more in line with seasonal demand patterns.
U.S. crude oil production surpassed imports during the reporting week ended May 31 for the first time since January 1997.
Production averaged 7.3 million barrels per day (b/d) the week ended May 31, up 8,000 b/d on the week, while imports fell 549,000 b/d to 7.268 million b/d, EIA data showed. That put production at 32,000 b/d above imports, the first time since the week ended January 3, 1997, when production was 433,000 b/d above imports.
That was a brief anomaly, however, owing primarily to a large 1.7 million b/d drop in imports that week to 6.021 million b/d. Production at the time was waning, while the U.S.' reliance on foreign crude oil was growing. The last time the U.S. saw production regularly exceeding imports was in the early 1990s, before output fell below 7 million b/d....MORE
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The spread to Brent is under ten bucks.
