OIL: EIA US Oil Stocks Preview: Continuation of Crude Draws Expected

EIA Oil Inventory Preview: The day delayed EIA weekly petroleum status report will be released at 11:00ET (16:00BST) today.

• Crude inventories are expected to draw by 0.38mbbls, US gasoline to draw by 1.15mbbl and distillates to draw 0.02mbbl for the week ending Aug 30, according to a Bloomberg survey. US crude inventories have been falling since June with Cushing the lowest since November last year. The drop last week was less than expected with an increase in refinery runs and drop in production partly offset by lower net exports on the week. Export fell with weakness in Asia and ahead of European refinery maintenance. Refinery utilisation unexpectedly rose last week to the highest since mid July at 93.3% with rates in the Rockies (PADD 4) rising above 100% capacity. Refinery utilisation is expected to fall by 0.4% this week.
• Gasoline stocks fell in data released last week with inventories below historical average after a declined for six of the last seven weeks. Four week implied demand was marginally higher last week to hold just below the previous five year average. US fuel demand during the first half of the summer was softer than weekly data showed, according to revisions by the EIA. U.S. retail gasoline demand saw a fall of 0.2% to 9.13mb/d for the week ending August 31 w/w according to GasBuddy data but was 0.5% above the four week average.
• US distillates stocks last week showed a small, unexpected build driven by a drop in exports and higher production and despite an increase in implied demand. Four week average implied demand was however still below the previous seasonal five year range.
• The API data yesterday showed a crude draw of 7.4mbbl, a Cushing draw of 0.8mbbl, gasoline draw of 0.3mbbl and distillates draw of 0.4mbbl.