The latest Platts survey for the week ending September 2 is looking for a 1.7 million barrel decline in crude stocks, a 900,000 barrel fall in gasoline supplies, and a 600,000 barrel gain in distillate inventories. In terms of crude oil, the DOE indicates that the last SPR barrels were picked up as of September 1, and thus assuming a concurrent transfer we would include another 5.4-odd million barrels into commercial inventory. Allowing for production shut ins and some reduction in imports, our arithmetic would suggest basically no change in crude oil stocks, taking into account the PAD I refinery run cuts as a result of Irene. For gasoline, as previously discussed we would look for some retracement in implied demand from the week before reflecting the halt in pre-Irene precautionary secondary stock building and reduced driving due to flooding. Allowing for a fall in refinery output, our numbers would still suggest a modest build in gasoline supplies. Finally, for distillate, lower refinery production was also likely accompanied by a decline in implied demand, but not to the degree of gasoline due to the use by portable generators to compensate for electricity grid outages. We believe distillate stocks rose more than the market expects.
Tags: Crude oil Inventories API, crude oil inventory outlook, energy commodity risk management, energy inventories, energy trading risk management, gasoline inventories, heating oil inventories, inventory estimates crude oil and refined products, Platts oil inventory assessment


