US Oil Refiners Building Fuel Supplies In Big Way Ahead Of Winter - EIA

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2022) US oil refiners are building fuel supplies in a big way ahead of the winter, inventory data from the government-run Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday as stockpiles of new petroleum products outstripped that of crude oil last week.

Crude oil inventories dropped by 5.187 million barrels, the EIA said in its Weekly Petroleum Status report for the period covering November 25 to December 2.

But stockpiles of distillates rose by 6.159 million barrels last week. Distillates are refined into diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships as well as fuel for jets.

Gasoline inventories, meanwhile, grew by 5.320 million barrels. Gasoline is the top automobile fuel in the United States.

Refineries operated at 95.5% of their operable capacity last week, the EIA said.

"It's obvious what US refiners are doing: They are pushing out as much fuel products as possible ahead of the coming winter cold," John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital, said.

EIA data, however, showed that fuel arriving in the marketplace � an indication of consumer demand � wasn't scaling at the same pace as the product growth in petroleum.

Finished motor gasoline in the marketplace were at 8.358 million barrels per day last week, up just by 41,000 barrels per day.

Distillates fuel oil, meanwhile, saw a decline of 106,000 barrels per day in demand to 3.55 million barrels daily.

Kerosene-type jet fuel also saw a drop, of 344,000 barrels per day, to reach 1.386 million barrels daily last week.

The Northern Hemisphere winter season officially starts on December 21 and ends on March 20.