EIA DATA: US crude oil stocks soar as storm impact lingers, imports rise

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - An unexpectedly large build in US crude oil stocks in the week to 6 January coincided with a sizeable increase in crude oil import volumes last week, lifting total available supply to its highest in seven weeks.

Weekly data from Energy Information Agency (EIA) showed total crude oil stocks up a solid 2.3% over the week to a seven-week high of 811.2 million barrels.

That was led by a rise in commercial stocks, which jumped 18.96 million barrels, or 4.5%, over the week to 439.6 million barrels and well off analyst expectations for a small drop.

The sharp increase came amid the fallout of Storm Elliott, with lag effects of the late-December storm that briefly knocked out refining capacity in parts of the country, including Texas.

With the unprecedented six-month-long 180-million-barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) release winding down during the reporting period, the rate of decline from state-owned storage continued to slow.

SPR stocks were down 0.2% over the week at a fresh 39-year low of 371.6 million barrels. The US government's tender to rebuy the first 3 million barrels of stock closed on 28 December, although the Department of Energy was understood to be unhappy with the high prices on offer.

Domestic crude output ticked back up to match post-Covid records, up 0.8% week-on-week but stuck at a stubborn ceiling level of 12.2 million bpd.

That was helped along by weekly net crude imports almost trebling as they hit a six-month high of 4.2 million bpd. Private importers saw their weekly arrivals jump 11.2% over the week to 6.4 million bpd, while exports almost halved to a five-month low of just 2.1 million bpd.