U.S. crude stocks likely plunged by over 15M barrels last week - API

Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil stocks likely plunged by more than 15 million barrels last week, with deficits in inventories of gasoline and distillates too, amid intensive production cuts by Saudi Arabia, petroleum industry group API indicated in a preliminary report on Tuesday ahead of official inventory data.

The U.S. crude inventory balance possibly dropped by 15.4M barrels during the week ended July 28, according to the API, or American Petroleum Institute. The petroleum industry group reported a crude draw of 1.319M barrels in the prior week to July 21.

The API numbers serve as a precursor to official inventory data on the same due from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, on Wednesday.

Over three previous weeks, both the API and EIA had been reporting lackluster draws on the U.S. petroleum complex despite Saudi Arabia claiming to have taken an additional million barrels per day off its daily production.

If the inventory drop in the API report is reflected as well by the EIA, it would underscore efforts by the Saudis to squeeze supply on the global market, especially in the face of less purchases by China amid economic troubles faced by the largest oil importer. 

Along with the broader crude draw it reported for last week, the API cited a slide of 1.76M barrels last week at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub that takes delivery of U.S. crude. In the prior week, the API reported a Cushing deficit of 2.34M barrels.

On the fuels side, API reported a gasoline inventory drop of 1.68M barrels and a distillate stock build/slide of 0.512M barrels. In the previous week, it noted a 1.043M barrel draw for gasoline and 1.614M build for distillates.

With the API report out, anticipation builds on what the EIA will cite for last week’s oil supply-demand in the United States, and how that will impact crude prices that have been rallying the past five weeks.

For last week, analysts tracked by Investing.com expect the EIA to report a crude stockpile drop of 0.071M barrels, versus the 0.6M barrel reduction reported during the week to July 21.

On the gasoline inventory front, the consensus is for a draw of 0.049M barrels over the 0.786M-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 0.216M barrels versus the prior week’s deficit of 0.245M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships and fuel for jets.