Weekly US Summary: Crude and Gasoline Stocks Draw

US crude stocks fell by 6.31m bbl in the week ending Sep. 1, according to the EIA Weekly US Petroleum Summary. This is compared to Bloomberg expectations of a 2.351m bbl draw.

• EIA Weekly US Petroleum Summary - w/w change week ending Sep 01: Gasoline stocks -2,666 vs Exp -902, Distillate stocks +679 vs Exp +208
• The gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at Marathon 593kbpd Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City, Texas, was shut after a fire on Thursday night, sources familiar with the plant said.
• Gasoline prices in several US states could rise by between 50 cents to $1/gal over the next few days, according to GasBuddy.
• US crude exports, including condensate derived wholly from natural gas, rose to 3.83m b/d in July from 3.82m b/d in June, according to US Census Bureau data.
• The national average for regular gasoline hit the second-highest level in records going back to 1994 at 3.811$/gal at the Labor Day holiday end to the summer driving season, according to AAA data.
• Major US airlines have warned of a spike in jet fuel prices, as costs trended up over the summer. Jet-fuel in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York averaged $3.18/gallon Sep. 5 immediately following the Labor Day holiday weekend, according to industry group Airlines for America.
• President Biden is shortly due to arrive in New Delhi, India for the G20 leaders' summits. Upon arrival he will head straight to the Indian Prime Minister’s private residence for a closed-door bilat with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Biden may hold an informal meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
• Tues - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now sees a 15% chance the US will slide into recession, down from 20% previously as cooling inflation and a still-resilient labour market suggest the Federal Reserve may not need to raise interest rates any further.
• Initial jobless claims were notably lower than expected in the week to Sep. 2, falling to 216k (cons 233k) after a fractionally upward revised 229k (initial 228k).
• The USD Index trades higher on the week headed into the Friday close, and corrective pullbacks have done little to work against the underlying uptrend drawn off the mid-July low. Better-than-expected factory orders, ISM services and unit labor costs data supported the USD, outweighing verbal intervention from Japanese officials, who warned that all options remain on the table for dealing with unjustified USD/JPY strength.