Will US Gasoline and Distillate Inventories Help Crude Oil Rally?

The API (American Petroleum Institute) released its weekly crude oil inventory report on April 26, 2016. It estimated that US gasoline inventory fell by 0.4 MMbbls (million barrels) for the week ended April 22, 2016, compared to the previous week. US distillate stocks also fell by 1 MMbbls for the same period. Read the previous part of this series to learn more about US crude oil inventories.

The EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) released its weekly crude oil inventory report on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, at 10.30 AM EST. The government agency reported that US gasoline stocks fell by 0.1 MMbbls to 239.7 MMbbls for the week ended April 15, 2016, compared to the previous week. US distillate inventories fell by 3.6 MMbbls to 159.9 MMbbls for the same period. Gasoline and distillate inventories are higher than their five-year upper range.

Market surveys project that gasoline stocks could have fallen by 0.4 MMbbls for the week ended April 22, 2016, compared to the previous week. For the same period, distillate inventories are expected to fall by 0.314 MMbbls. The estimates of falling gasoline and distillate inventories could benefit crude oil prices.

The rise and fall in crude oil prices influence oil and gas producers such as W&T Offshore (WTI), Denbury Resources (DNR), Swift Energy (SFY), Stone Energy (SGY), and Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO).

ETFs and ETNs such as the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF (UCO), the Direxion Daily Energy Bear 3X ETF (ERY), the PowerShares DWA Energy Momentum ETF (PXI), and the United States 12 Month Oil ETF (USL) are affected by the ups and downs of crude oil prices.

To learn more about crude oil price forecasts, read Investment Banks Have Raised Forecasts for Crude Oil Prices in 2016.