The American Petroleum Institute (API) has estimated a crude oil inventory build of 5.954 barrels for the week ending November 14, compared to analyst expectations of a 1.543-million-barrel build—a huge discrepancy for the much-watched inventory figures. Last week saw a draw in crude oil inventories of 500,000 million barrels, according to API data. The EIA’s estimates, however, reported a build of 2.2-million barrels for that week. After today’s inventory move, the net draw for the year now sits at just 2.81 million barrels for the 47-week reporting period so far, using API data. Oil prices were trading down on Tuesday prior to the data release as analysts suspected US oil inventories had increased last week, in combination with stalled trade talks between China and the United States, and Russia’s balking at the prospect of deeper oil production cuts. At 2:38pm EST, WTI was trading down $1.60 (-2.80%) at $55.54—roughly $2 per barrel below last week’s prices. Brent was trading down $1.34 (-2.15%) at $61.10, down roughly $1.40 a barrel from last week. The API this week reported a build of 3.354 million barrels of gasoline for week ending November 14, almost quadruple the build that analysts predicted, which was for a build in gasoline inventories of 870,000 barrels for the week.
Distillate inventories saw a draw of 2.19 million barrels for the week, while Cushing inventories fell by 1.351 million barrels.
US crude oil production as estimated by the Energy Information Administration showed that production for the week ending November 8 moved to a brand new all-time high of 12.8 million bpd.
LONDON (Reuters) – Northwest European oil refining margins turned negative on Tuesday, falling to around -$0.49 a barrel, Reuters calculations showed. Margins fell to their lowest since October 2013. A sharp fall in gasoline and fuel oil margins in recent days precipitated the fall, with a relative strength in middle distillates failing to keep overall margins in positive territory, traders said.“The return of refineries from maintenance has seriously reduced refinery economics, and this is not a sign of strong global oil product demand,” consultancy Petromatrix said in a note on Tuesday. Traders and analysts were expecting that refiners, particularly simple ones that don’t have equipment to upgrade fuel oil into more valuable products, would have to cut runs. Gunvor Group on Monday said it had shut one of its two crude distillation units at its Rotterdam oil refinery in the Netherlands as it was uneconomical to run. The unit will be down into next March when the 88,000 barrel-per-day refinery will undergo maintenance. “The current price evolution indicates that there is not enough demand for the current output of oil products,” Petromatrix said. Even margins for complex refineries have turned negative in recent days, traders said, with crude grades such as Russia’s Urals becoming uneconomic to process.
