U.S. oil supplies hit new 15-year high as demand ebbs
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Oil prices have resumed their decline today after the government reported that U.S. crude stockpiles hit a fresh 15-year high last week.
Crude oil inventories rose 2.84 million barrels to 359.4 million in the week ended March 27, the highest since July 1993, the Energy Department said.
Gasoline inventories also rose, unexpectedly.
From Bloomberg News:
The gain in oil stockpiles left supplies 13% higher than the five-year average for the period, according to the department. Gasoline inventories were 2.7% above the average. ‘The tanks are brimming,’ said Adam Sieminski, the chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank AG in Washington. ‘The numbers today show there’s plenty of supply.’
Near-term oil futures fell as low as $47.26 a barrel during today’s trading session, and most recently were off $1.31 to $48.35. The price has slumped from a four-month high of $54.34 last Thursday.
Total U.S. daily fuel demand was 18.9 million barrels, on average, over the last four weeks, down 4.4% from a year earlier, Bloomberg reported. That was the lowest consumption for a four-week period since October.
‘We will need to see demand come back before there is any sustained rally in this market,’ Kyle Cooper, an analyst at energy consultant IAF Advisors in Houston, told Bloomberg. ‘At this point demand is still falling.’
If the economy is turning, it isn’t showing up so far in fuel consumption.
-- Tom Petruno