The Week In Numbers for the Week Ending 8-19-2016

Each week, we strive to provide you a bare bones summary of what happened to the price of WTI, Natural Gas, and Brent Crude. In addition, we summarize the major reports from Genspace, API, and EIA on Inventory Data. And we also throw in the rig count for good measure.

On August 16, 2016, API reported its weekly inventory draw for the prior week. The news was bitter sweet. According to API, U.S. Crude inventories decreased just over one million barrels. Gasoline inventories increased just over two million barrels. One thing that has been concerning is the gasoline build during summer driving season. This was the biggest increase in Gasoline inventories in 6 months.

On August 17, 2016, the Energy Information Administration released weekly data for the prior week.   The EIA weekly report, included the following important notes:

 - U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.9 million barrels per day during the week ending August 12, 2016, about 268,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average. Refineries are operating at 93.5% capacity.

 - U.S. Crude imports averaged about 8.2 million barrels per day last week, down by 211,000 barrels per day from the previous week

 - U.S. commercial crude inventories decreased by 2.5 million barrels (compared to an increase of 1.1 million barrels the week before) . At 521.1 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories remain at historically high levels fro this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2,700,000 barrels last week, well above the upper limit of the average range.

On August 18, 2016, the Energy Information Administration released weekly data for the prior week for natural gas storage. Working gas in storage was 3,339 Bcf as of Friday August 12, 2016. This represents a net increase of 22 Bcf from the previous week. This is well below the typical build for this time of the year, indicating that natural gas markets may be moving into balance.

On August 15, 2016, Genscape released Cushing Inventory data for the prior week. Cushing is the largest oil storage tank in the world, and is the settlement point for crude oil futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. According to Genscape, inventory decreased 350,000 barrels at the Cushing settlement point for the prior week.

On Friday, August 19, 2016 Baker Hughes released the weekly rig count data. The U.S. oil rig count rose by 10 to 406. The gas rig count remained unchanged 83, and miscellaneous rigs remained at two, taking the total up to 491. This is the eighth straight weekly increase.

Ty Chapman

Five Star Metals, Inc.

Raising the Bar for Customer Service and Quality

Twitter: @FSM_TY

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