US crude oil inventory draws resume amid strong exports, rising refinery demand

US crude oil inventory draws resumed in the week to Oct. 13, US Energy Information Administration data showed Oct. 18, amid a counter-seasonal uptick in refinery demand and strong exports.

US commercial crude stocks declined 4.49 million barrels to 419.75 million barrels in the week to Oct. 13, the data shows. The draw ran counter to an average build of around 2.5 million barrels during the same week over the past five years but was in line with recent market expectations after the American Petroleum Institute late Oct. 17 reported a 4.38 million-barrel draw over the period.

Inventories at the NYMEX delivery point of Cushing, Oklahoma, fell 760,000 barrels to 21.01 million barrels. The draw put Cushing stocks at the lowest level since October 2014 and put them 44.5% behind the five-year average.

The draw comes as US crude exports surged to 5.3 million b/b, up 73% from the week prior. The EIA has only ever reported weekly exports higher on two occasions, both in 2023: the week ended June 23, and the week ended Feb. 24, when they reached an all-time high 5.63 million b/d.

Asia-bound exports averaged 2.18 million b/d, data from Platts cFlow ship and commodity tracking software from S&P Global Commodity Insights showed Oct. 18, eclipsing flows to Europe for the first time in three weeks.

Meanwhile refinery crude net inputs increased 190,000 b/d to 15.40 million b/d, climbing 2% above the five-year average for this time of year, and total utilization hit 86.1% of capacity, up 0.4 percentage points on the week and 3% stronger than normal.

During the week ending Oct. 13, refinery shutdowns in the US fell 72,000 b/d, with total outages now at around 2.1 million b/d, S&P Global data shows. US refinery outages are projected to decline to 1.81 million b/d for the week ending Oct. 20.

Refined product draws extend

Seasonal draws in key refined product stocks extended in the week to Oct. 13, EIA data showed. Total gasoline stocks declined 2.37 million barrels to 223.3 million barrels, and distillate stocks fell 3.19 million barrels to 113.77 million barrels.

Gasoline stocks remain ample at 0.2% above the five-year average, but the distillate draw reversed a three-week normalizing trend and left stockpiles 12.3% below normal for this time of year.

Total product supplied for all products, the EIA's proxy for demand, reached a year-to-date high of 21.9 million b/d, climbing 8% above the five-year average. Distillate demand was especially strong, coming in 10% above normal at 4.42 million b/d.