Investories down again but still on average high

Crude oil inventories in the US fell by 3.9 million barrels to 321 million barrels in the week ending July 8, for the second week in a row.

This was slightly higher than the 3.5 million barrel decline that had been expected. Inventories, however remain above average for this time of year.

Gasoline inventories were also down, by 2.7 million barrels, well above the 800,000 barrel decline that analysts expected. Distillate inventories, however, grew by 3.2 million barrels on the week, double the expected 1.6 million barrel advance. Stockpiles of both gasoline and distillates remain in the upper half of the average range for this time of year.

Refineries operated at 96.2 percent of capacity for the week, with both gasoline and distillate production down. Gasoline production averaged 8.8 million barrels per day, while distillate production ran at around 4.2 million barrels per day.

Before the weekly department of energy inventory figures were released, crude oil prices had gone up, with Brent crude for August on the International Petroleum Exchange trading at $59.06 per barrel, a rise of 24 cents, at late morning in London, while West Texas Intermediate August contracts were up 17 cents to $60.79 in electronic trading.

However, after the weekly inventories report was released, WTI August contracts fell to $60.01 per barrel, 61 cents off Tuesday’s close. Subsiding worries about supply disruptions due to Hurricane Emily had a hand in the fall in WTI’s price.