US commercial crude oil stocks rise again

Oil

US commercial crude oil inventories grew by 5.7M bbls w-o-w to 539.3M bbls during the week ending July 3 according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). This is around 18% higher than the five-year average for this time of year, and is just 1.5M bbls lower than the record level recorded during the week ending June 19. Total motor gasoline stocks fell by 4.8M bbls w-o-w to 251.7M bbls, however this is still 22.5M bbls (or 9.8%) higher than the same week last year. Refinery inputs increased by 315K b/d w-o-w to an average of 14.3M b/d. Refinery utilisation was up by 2% w-o-w to 77.5%, rising for the eighth week in a row. Crude oil imports rose by 1.4M b/d w-o-w to 7.4M b/d, after falling for the past three consecutive weeks.