Oil stocks have fallen by more than 7 million barrels and prices are falling
Oil stocks have fallen by more than 7 million barrels and prices are falling: The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced yesterday Tuesday, June 22,
The United States crude oil inventories declined by 7.199 million barrels for the week ending Friday Analysts
had predicted a much lower decline of 3.942 million barrels during the week.
For the previous week, (API) recorded a decline in crude oil inventories of 8.537 million barrels after analysts predicted a decline of 3.290.
Crude oil inventories have also declined by more than 29 million barrels since the beginning of 2021,
According to data from the American Petroleum Institute, but it’s still up 27 million barrels since January 2020.
API reported an increase in gasoline stocks
API reported an increase in gasoline stocks of 959,000 barrels for the week ending on June 18.
In addition to 2.852 million barrels in the previous week.
After analysts forecast an increase of 833,000 barrels during the week.
Inventories of distilleries witnessed an increase in inventories this week reaching 992 1,000 barrels during the week,
in addition to the last week’s increase which reached 1.956 million barrels.
This week, Cushing stocks also fell by 2.550 million barrels.
Change in oil prices this week
Oil prices fell on Tuesday after the significant gains made on Monday.
In the middle of the day and before the data was released, WTI witnessed a drop of $0.58 or (-0.79%) and was trading at $73.08,
up about $1 per barrel on the week. As for the benchmark Brent crude,
it was trading on the day at $74.90, an increase of 0.80 or (+0.80) dollars in the week.
After the data was released, around midday, WTI was trading at $73.08 a barrel while Brent crude was trading at $74.86 a barrel.
Weekly oil production rates
Concurrently with a further decline in U.S. crude oil inventories this week,
U.S. oil production recovered to an average of 11.2 million barrels per day for the week ending on June 11,
According to the latest EIA data, this represents 200,000 barrels per day compared to the previous week.
Venezuela claims the ability to quadruple its oil production at the end of the year
Oil Minister, Tarek El Aissami, in a recent Bloomberg interview,
stated that Venezuela is investing in recovery in crude oil production
and it is planning to increase its production to four times by the end of the year, to 1.5 million barrels per day.
El Aissami added that without any external financing or loans and only with their own money they have been able to increase investment
enough to begin the recovery gradually
Venezuela, which has the largest reserves of crude oil in the world, alleged that it will increase to four times of its production of crude oil,
and will also limit the lines of communication at all gas stations in the country. This is despite the sanctions that the country has been subjected to,
as well as the severe crisis that the world has been exposed to due to the Coronavirus outbreak and the drop in oil prices last year.
El Aissami said crude oil production in Venezuela now has exceeded 700,000 barrels per day,
from nearly 400,000 barrels per day in the summer of last year when production fell in the wake of the pandemic and oil prices fell.
Secondary sources from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) indicate that Venezuela’s oil production in May amounted
to 531,000 barrels per day, an increase of 45,000 barrels per day compared to April,
according to the latest monthly oil market report issued by OPEC.
Venezuela reported its oil production to OPEC, which amounted to 582,000 barrels per day last month,
a daily increase of 130,000 barrels from its April production level.
Bloomberg
Francisco Monaldi, an expert on Venezuela’s oil industry at Rice University,
told Bloomberg that the increase in oil production to 1.5 million barrels per day by the end of 2021
might be an impossible goal, In the medium term, this will not even be reasonable.
Production capacity has been down since 2014 and there have been no operating oil rigs in Venezuela for a year.
Maduro said in an interview last week with Bloomberg that he had been waiting for the Biden administration to negotiate a deal that would ease US sanctions.
But a US State Department spokesman said that if Maduro expects sanctions to be lifted, he should do more to restore some democracy in the country.
China prepares to reduce oil imports
China has reduced 35% of the crude oil import quotas for independent refineries in the second batch of oil purchase licenses this year,
indicating that China will import much smaller quantities in the second half of the year than last year and in recent months.
Since 2015, when China began allowing private refineries to import crude oil, the authorities have regulated the quotas that each refinery can buy.
Independent refineries represent about a quarter of China’s refining capacity.
Unlike independent refineries which issue semi-annual quotas for crude oil imports, government oil refineries’ imports are not quotas.
Amid an oversupply of refined products and low refining margins,
this year the Chinese government launched a crackdown on commercial practices at independent refineries.
China continues to increase oversight
China continues to increase oversight of refineries in its attempts to crack down on the illicit fuel trade,
fill loopholes that some companies use to evade fuel tax evasion, and curb oversupply of fuel, part of which results from tax evasion.
In May, the Chinese authorities said they would impose a consumption tax on imported LCO oil, mixed aromatics,
and diluted bitumen starting on June 12.
In April, China ramped up pressure on independent refineries to expose illegal tax practices and check whether
substandard facilities were closed or still operating, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the plans.
SCI99 said in a report reported by Bloomberg that the reduction in quotas for the second batch of 2021 indicates
that China intends to reform practices in the private refining sector.