Large jump in US crude imports helps replenish stocks: EIA

New York (Platts)--4Feb2004

A 7.9-mil bbl jump in US crude stocks last week was due in large part to a significant increase in imports, which recorded their fourth-largest weekly average in about 14 years, the US Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. EIA, in the narrative accompanying its weekly petroleum statistics, said crude imports averaged 10.5-mil b/d for the week ending Jan 30, up almost 1.9-mil b/d from the previous week "and the fourth-largest weekly average since at least 1990." The agency said most of the increase was directed into the US Gulf Coast, which accounted for 6.4-mil b/d of the imports, the highest weekly average in the key refining region since Oct 24, 2003. US crude imports have averaged more than 9.5-mil b/d for the past four weeks, said the EIA. Distillate fuel imports averaged 373,000 b/d last week, down 139,000 b/d from the previous week, while total motor gasoline imports, which include both finished gasoline and blending components, averaged 688,000 b/d. The EIA said the large crude build was also the result of a decline in refinery inputs. US refinery inputs averaged 14.5-mil b/d last week, down 202,000 b/d from the previous week and down 879,000 b/d from the figure for the week ending Jan 2, 2004. "Most notable was that crude oil refinery inputs into the Gulf Coast averaged below 7-mil b/d for the first time since the week ending Feb 28, 2003," the agency said. The 7.9-mil bbl jump in crude stocks to 271.6-mil bbl still leaves inventories almost 29-mil bbl below the five-year average for this time of year, the EIA noted. Distillate inventories fell 6.8-mil bbl to 124.2-mil bbl, which put the stocks squarely at the five-year seasonal average. EIA said the distillate drop included both the low sulfur product used for diesel fuel and the high sulfur material used to process heating oil. Gasoline stocks, meanwhile, fell 400,000 b/d to 205.6-mil bbl and are about 9.5-mil bbl below the five-year average.