U.S. crude stocks down, fuel inventories surge in Memorial Day run - API

Investing.com -- U.S. crude stockpiles likely rose last week, while inventories of fuel surged, petroleum industry group API indicated in a report Tuesday that delivered a mixed outcome for oil bulls betting on higher oil demand with the advent of summer travel.

The U.S. crude inventory balance slid by 1.71 million barrels during the week to June 2, according to the API, or American Petroleum Institute. In the prior week to May 26, the petroleum industry group reported a crude build of 5.202M barrels.

Notwithstanding the overall crude draw, the API cited an inventory growth of 1.535M barrels specifically at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub that takes delivery of U.S. crude. In the prior week, it reported a Cushing build of 1.777M barrels.

On the fuel side, API reported a gasoline inventory build of 2.417M barrels and a distillates surge of 4.5M barrels. In the previous week, it noted a 1.891M barrel build for gasoline and a 1.849M build for distillates.

The API’s latest report is particularly important for the trade as it tells of demand in the run-up to May 29 Memorial Day holiday, which unofficially flags off peak U.S. summer travel.

The data also serves as a precursor to official inventory numbers on crude and fuel from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, on Wednesday.

For last week, analysts tracked by Investing.com expect the EIA to report a crude stockpile build of 1.152M barrels, versus the 4.488M barrel rise reported during the week to May 26.

On the gasoline inventory front, the consensus is for a draw of 0.239M barrels over the 0.207M-barrel decline in the previous week. Automotive fuel gasoline is the No. 1 U.S. fuel product.

With distillate stockpiles, the expectation is for a drop of 0.110M barrels versus the prior week’s gain of 0.985M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships and fuel for jets.