The Week In Numbers for the Week Ending 8-5-2016

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 4, 2016, Genscape released Cushing Inventory data for this 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 89,071 barrels at the Cushing settlement point from the beginning of the week until August 2, 2016.

On August 2, 2016, API reported its weekly inventory draw for the prior week. According to API, US Crude inventories decreased by 1,300,000 barrels. This compares to a decrease of 827,000 barrels last week. Gasoline inventories decreased by 450,000. While the oil draw was generally in line with expectations, it was good to see the incredibly high inventory of gasoline being reduced.

While the news was not released in time to make it into an article (hint for next week!), U.S. natural gas stocks fell 6 bcf last week to 3,288 bcf. This is highly unusual as we are in the middle of injection season so stock should be growing, not shrinking. Normally, we would see an increase this week (based on a five year average) of 54 bcf. Despite natural gas falling today, this is overall good news.

On August 3, 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 July 29, 2016, about 266,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average. Refineries are operating at 93.3% capacity.

- U.S. Crude imports averaged about 8.7 million barrels per day last week, up by 301,000 barrels per day from the previous week.

- U.S. commercial crude inventories increased by 1.4 million barrels from the previous At 522.5 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories remain at historically high levels fro this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 3,300,000 barrels last week, well above the upper limit of the average range.

On Friday, August 05, 2016 Baker Hughes released the weekly rig count data. The US oil rig count ruse by 7 to 381. That’s the highest level since March 18. The gas rig count fell by 5 to 81, and miscellaneous rigs fell by one to two, taking the total up one to 464. This is the sixth weekly increase.

By: Ty Chapman

Five Star Metals, Inc.

Raising the Bar for Customer Service and Quality

Twitter: @FSM_TY

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