The weekly oil report from the Energy Information Administration showed continued increases in inventories for crude oil, gasoline and all petroleum inventories. Distillate fuels and propane inventories are drawing down as the winter heating season passes its peak. On the demand side, gasoline demand is 0.5% below the same period last year – stabilizing if not exactly rebounding in the face of retail prices well below last year's levels. Jet fuel demand is still down 13% compared to the same period last year.

This Week in Petroleum takes a timely look at the relationship between gasoline and crude oil prices as both are climbing, even in the face of building inventories.

The supply and demand balance for gasoline is also a major factor in both wholesale and retail gasoline prices, and can sometimes work in the opposite direction of crude oil prices. In the current market, those gasoline supply and demand factors may be feeding through to the increases in crude oil prices that do not seem driven by supply side fundamentals. US Petroleum Supplies and Refining At a Glance

Total Petroleum Inventories: Up 1.4 million barrels Crude Oil Inventories: Up 7.2 million barrels Gasoline Inventories: Up 300,000 barrels Distillate Fuels Inventories: Down 1.4 million barrels Propane/propylene inventories: Down 2.9 million barrels Refinery Crude Inputs: 14.3 million barrels/day Change: Up 205,000 barrels/day Refinery Activity: 83.5%

US Petroleum Demand At a Glance Compared to Same 4-Week Period Last Year

Total Products Supplied: Down 2.8% Gasoline: Down 0.5% Distillate Fuel: Down 3.7% Jet Fuel: Down 13.1%

Full current report with data tables [PDF]

You're reading a post from Financial Options, hopefully in your feed reader and not on a scraper site. Click through for the original and more like it. Stabilizing gasoline demand putting floor under oil

February 4 2009, 10:57pm | Original Link »

Your favourite external commenting service goes here! I recommend http://www.disqus.com