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Petroleum inventory report released
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The Energy Information Administration released its weekly report on the status of petroleum inventories in the United States today.
Here are some highlights:

Crude inventories
Crude oil inventories increased by 3.3 million barrels to a total of 361.4 million barrels. At 361.4 million barrels, inventories are 10.9 million barrels below last year (-2.9 percent) and in the upper half of the average range for this time of year.

Gasoline inventories
Gasoline inventories decreased by 1.9 million barrels to 233.1 million barrels. At 233.1 million barrels, inventories are down 0.1 million barrels, or 0.1 percent lower than one year ago. Here’s how individual regions and their gasoline inventory fared last week: East Coast (-1.1mb); Midwest (+1.3mb); Gulf Coast (-0.3mb); Rockies (-0.6mb); and West Coast (-1.1mb). It is important to note which regions saw increases/decreases as this information likely drives prices up (in the case of falling inventories), or down (in the case of rising inventories).

Distillate (diesel, heating oil) inventories
Distillate inventories decreased by 0.7 million barrels to a total of 113.1 million barrels. At 113.1 million barrels, inventories are now 12.8 million barrels, or 10.2 percent lower vs. a year ago.

Implied demand
Gasoline supplied to end users amounted to 8.3 million barrels per day, or 128,000 barrels per day lower than the previous week. So far in 2014, gasoline supplied is 1.1 percent lower versus 2013.

Refinery output/utilization
Refinery utilization was up 1.0 percent to 87.1 percent vs. last week’s numbers. Gasoline production increased last week averaging 8.9 million barrels per day while distillate fuel production increased last week, averaging 4.6 million barrels per day.
Utilization rates for the last week were as follows: East Coast: 75.0 percent, Midwest: 94.8 percent, Gulf Coast: 88.0 percent, Rocky Mountain: 78.0 percent, West Coast: 81.5 percent. These percentages show how much of a region’s overall capacity were used to refine oil. It is important to note these percentages, because the lower the utilization percent, the lower output, which has a direct impact on local gasoline prices. If refiners in your region have low output, your more likely to see prices rise.

Overall supply
Total oil stocks in the United States are down by 60.3 million barrels (-5.5 percent) over last year and stand at 1.04 billion barrels (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve).

Imports/exports
The U.S. imported 7.9 million barrels of crude oil per day last week, up by 1.0 million barrels vs. the previous week. Total motor gasoline imports last week averaged 620,000bpd. The U.S. also imported 313,000bpd of distillate fuels. However, during the same time frame, the U.S. exported 586,000bpd of gasoline and 1.3mbpd of distillates. In total, U.S. refineries exported 3.7 million barrels per day of oil and products.