Page 7 - NorthAmOil Week 41 2022

NorthAmOil PERFORMANCE NorthAmOil

EIA: crude inventories surge by almost

10mn barrels on SPR release

US US crude inventories rose by 9.9mn barrels in Stockpiles of distillates have remained low
the week ended October 7, according to official due to heavy global demand and issues with
figures from the Energy Information Adminis- refineries in the United States and France,
tration (EIA). reported the news service.
Crude stocks rose to 439.1mn barrels. Demand for heating oil always rises in the
The government released 7.7mn barrels from winter months. According to the EIA, most US
the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). More households will spend more money on energy
may be released because of OPEC+’s production this winter compared with last winter because of
cuts, said the White House recently. higher retail energy prices and a slightly colder
Analysts in a Reuters poll – taken before the winter.
SPR release – had expected a 1.8mn barrel rise According to the EIA, petrol inventories rose
in stockpiles. by 2.0mn barrels to 8% below the five-year range
Stockpiles were some 1% below the 5-year for this time of year.
average for this time of the year during the week Retail prices have been at record levels in the
ending October 7, said EIA. US. President Joe Biden recently said that prices
But distillate stockpiles – which include heat- are still too high and that he will address the issue
ing oil and diesel – fell by 4.9mn to 106.1mn publicly during the week of October 17.
barrels. Expectations had been a drop of 2mn Exports of petroleum products increased to
barrels. It was their lowest level since May, their highest level ever, of 7.1mn barrels per day
reported Reuters. (bpd), said the EIA.
The EIA said that the distillate inventories That comes as refiners have been operating
were approximately 23% below the 5-year aver- at above-average levels to boost their stockpiles,
age for this time of year. though that has diminished slightly in recent
“Ongoing concerns on the diesel front is war- days. Refinery crude runs dropped by 278,000
ranted with another 4.8mn draw there,” Tony bpd for the week ending October 7, while refin-
Headrick, energy market analyst at CHS Hedg- ery utilisation rates decreased by 1.4% to 89.9%
ing, told the news service. of total capacity.™

US oil rig count continues rising

NORTH AMERICA US drillers added seven oil and gas rigs in the Wyoming was up three to 22, while Ohio’s count
week that ended on October 14, the fourth time increased by two to 12. Louisiana and Pennsyl-
in five weeks that Baker Hughes’ count has risen. vania gained one rig apiece to achieve 63 and 24
This is up 226 from October of last year. rotary rigs operational.
Six of the rotary rigs were onshore and one For its part, New Mexico was down four rigs
additional rig was offshore compared with a to 109, Alaska and Colorado were down one to 9
week ago. and 20 operational.
A higher rig count is an early sign of future In Canada, the count was up by one this
output. week, and up by 48 compared with a year ago.
Oil rigs were up eight from a week ago, with Two additional rigs were drilling for oil this week
610 rigs operating, the highest since March 2010. in Canada, up to 150, while gas rigs were down
At 157 gas rigs working, the count was one fewer. one to 66.
It was the lowest gas count since July. A Moody’s October 10 report showed North
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contracts as American oil and gas producers have reduced
of October 14 had fallen 7.6% for the week com- debt by $26bn in the three years since 2019. And
pared with 6.4% for Brent. There are global fears a Deloitte report in August had said that if com-
of recession. Oil prices are relatively high. modities prices stay strong and producers dou-
In the US, Texas led the rig count with ble down on capital discipline, then US shale
365 operational, up five from a week earlier. companies could be debt-free by 2024.™

Week 41 13•October•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7