Crude Oil Inventories Drop 1.2% on Fewer Imports and More Inputs

U.S. crude oil supplies fell 4.4 million barrels, or 1.2%, for the week ending Sept. 13, according to an Energy Information Administration report (link opens a PDF) released today.

After edging down 0.1% the previous week, this new report marks the third straight week of oil inventory declines, and the sixth over the past seven weeks. Over the past 12 months, inventories have fallen 3.3%.

Both a 200,000-barrels-per-day increase in refinery inputs and a 439,000 bbpd drop in imports contributed to this week's supply draw.

Source: eia.gov.

Gasoline inventories also took a dip, dropping 1.6 million barrels (0.7%) to almost fully reverse the previous week's 1.7 million barrel gain. Compared with a year ago, supplies are up 10%.

Over the past week, retail gasoline pump prices dropped $0.04 per gallon.

Source: eia.gov.

Distillates supplies, which include diesel and heating oil, decreased 1.1 million barrels (0.8%) for the first fall in three weeks. Distillates demand is up a seasonally adjusted 10.8% for the past four weeks, and supplies remain "near the lower limit of the average range," according to the EIA. Compared with the same period in 2012, inventories are up 2.2%.

Source: eia.gov.

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