EIA inventory data reveals record US crude oil production

The Energy Information Administration said in its weekly crude oil inventories report that domestic production rose to a new record, while imports slid.

US crude for delivery in February was up 0.57% for the day at $56.58 per barrel at 16:02 GMT, having shifted in a daily range of $56.82-$54.60. The contract settled unchanged at $56.26 on Tuesday after it plunged to a 5-1/2-year intra-day low of $53.94.

Meanwhile on the ICE, Brent for delivery in the same month stood at $60.45, up 0.73% on the day. Prices ranged between $60.68 and $58.71 during the day. The European crude benchmark fell 1.96% to $60.01 yesterday, having earlier dropped to a 5-1/2-year low of $58.50. Brent traded at a premium of $3.87 to its US counterpart, up from Tuesday’s settlement at $3.75.

The Energy Information Administration reported that US crude oil inventories fell by 0.847 million barrels in the week ended December 12th to 379.9 million, trailing analysts estimates for a decline of 2.360 million. Stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub surged by 2.92 million barrels to 27.8 million, the highest since March.

US crude production surged to 9.137 million barrels per day from 9.118 million a week earlier, hitting a new record for weekly data spanning back to January 1983. Imports slid to 7.104 million barrels per day from 7.668 million last week, while the four-week average of inbound shipments fell to 7.387 million bpd, 1.9% below year-ago levels.

Refineries operated at 93.5% of their operable capacity, slowing down from 95.4% during the previous week. Motor gasoline production increased, while distillate fuel output decreased and averaged 9.7 million and 5.2 million barrels per day, respectively.

Total motor gasoline inventories surged by 5.250 million barrels last week to 222.0 million, exceeding analysts projections for a jump to 1.780 million. Distillate fuel supplies declined by 0.207 million barrels to 121.5 million, beating estimates for a 0.340-million jump.