WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2021) The United States saw the year's second-largest drawdown in crude oil stockpiles last week, according to data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday that indicated no letup in the blistering summer demand for fuel.
US crude oil inventories have fallen for eight weeks in a row, drawing almost 50 million barrels combined, the EIA data showed. For the latest week to July 9, the draw was 7.9 million barrels. That was the largest since the 8.0 million barrels reported for the week to May 3.
The big summer draws for crude come as US refiners focus on pushing out as much gasoline as possible to meet projected demand during the peak driving season in the country. According to the EIA, refiners operated last week at 91.8 percent of capacity, at around levels last seen in the summer of 2019 � well before the onset of the pandemic last year.
Stockpiles of gasoline rose by 1.04 million barrels last week, versus forecasts for a drawdown of 1.5 million barrels � demonstrating the stepped-up refining activity.
Inventories of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 3.66 million barrels, versus a forecast build of 1.0 million barrels above the previous week's rise of 1.62 million. The distillates number proved that demand for trucking and other commercial transportation fuels had not taken off in the same way as gasoline for private cars.
