Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, were up by 12 million barrels to 439.5 million barrels in the week ending February 9, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report on Wednesday. The country’s inventories now stand 2% below the five-year average for this time of year. US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 14.5 million barrels per day for the corresponding timeframe, which is 297,000 barrels per day less than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 80.6% of their operable capacity last week, while gasoline production increased, averaging 9.2 million barrels per day. Imports of crude oil in the country averaged 6.5 million barrels per day last week, decreasing by 437,000 barrels per day. Total commercial petroleum inventories rose by 5.2 million barrels in the reported week.
IEA: Global oil demand growth losing momentum
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly report on Thursday that global oil demand growth is “losing momentum,” stressing annual growth eased from 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in the third quarter of 2023 to 1.8 million bpd in the fourth quarter of the year. The IEA attributed the decline in demand to a sharp drop in China and noted the pace of demand growth is expected to decelerate to 1.2 million bpd this year. Global oil supply was also reported to have fallen sharply, sliding by 1.4 million bod in January as a result of OPEC+’s output cuts and the Arctic blast that shut production in North America. Still, global supply is seen rising by 1.7 million bpd to a record 103.8 in 2024 and eclipsing the rise in demand, mainly due to strong production in the United States, Brazil, Guyana and Canada.