Gasoline inventories up last week

The US Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that crude oil inventories were down by 3 million barrels in the week ending May 19.  The decline was much higher than the 800,000 barrel drop that had been expected.  However, stockpiles of crude remain plentiful and inventories of gasoline were up by 2.1 million barrels during the week, greater than the 1.4 million barrel increase that analysts had predicted.

July contracts for Brent crude on the International Petroleum Exchange were down 32 cents after the EIA report to $70.68 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate for July delivery lost 36 cents to $71.40 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.  Meanwhile, Nymex unleaded gasoline June contracts lost a bit over 2 cents to $2.0875 per gallon.

Demand for gasoline was only up 0.3 percent over the same time last year, and the current high pump prices for gasoline seem to be cutting demand slightly.  Still, there are concerns that refineries will be able to keep up with demand during the summer driving season, as refinery utilization was down by 0.1 percent to 89.7 percent.  To compensate for the decline in refining, the US imported gasoline at the second highest weekly rate in history.